During special counsel Robert Mueller’s public hearings, Democrats cited lines, pages and sections in his report, asking for yes or no answers to clarify language in the text. They underscored the ongoing threat from interference with our elections. Republicans, for the most part, launched an angry broadside against the whole report. In increasingly louder voices they vilified Mueller’s integrity, assailed the investigation’s purposes and findings, and complained about cost. Rep. John Ratcliffe asserted that the entire investigative team of legal experts under Republican Robert Mueller was comprised of biased Democrats and therefore illegitimate.
I always thought that lawyers read and interpreted law, not political polls. Asserting that Mueller’s team was politically biased in its investigation and making ad hominem attacks is a chilling insight into how Trumpist Republicans view our judiciary and intelligence officials. Solid jurisprudence is based on thorough investigation and application of law. Because these attacks did not cite specific areas of the report, I can only believe they’re unsubstantiated, given Mueller’s integrity and careful legal practice.
Now comes the nomination of John Ratcliffe to the sensitive post of director of national intelligence. After his rant during the Mueller hearings, can we trust him to protect the country from adversaries? He lacks experience in and support of the intelligence community. His performance during the Mueller hearings reveals his own political bias in the face of the law. Read Franz Kafka’s writing if you want to know what a politicized legal system does to ordinary people.
CHRISTINE HAGUE
Weare