April 22, 2019

Despite the fact that it's fairly obvious to anyone who has given the redacted version of the Mueller report an honest read that what Mueller intended was for Congress to make the judgment on whether Trump is guilty of obstruction of justice, Republican Utah Senator and Trump enabler Mike Lee told CBS' Bob Schieffer this Sunday that he was "confused" as to the "tone" of the report on obstruction.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Your colleague, the junior senator from Utah, Mitt Romney, put out a pretty stunning statement yesterday. I just want to read this to you, this is Mitt Romney speaking, "I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty by individuals in the highest office in the land including the president. I am appalled that federal- fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia including information that had been illegally obtained, that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement, and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in the Ukraine," close quote. Your reaction?

SEN. LEE: Well, first of all, I think Senator Romney has some credibility with regard to Russia. Remember it was Senator Romney as a presidential candidate in 2012 who pointed out that we ought to be very concerned about Russia. Sadly, his warnings went unheeded. And under President Obama's leadership over the next four years Russia's activities, its- its nefarious efforts to undermine our system, continued. And it-perhaps that's some of what's motivating Senator Romney to speak out about this.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well do you agree with him?

SEN. LEE: Look, there's nothing in this report that changes my view of this president. I don't think most Americans, I don't think most senators, most members of Congress, I don't think most Americans will have their view of the president of the United States changed by this report. There's just nothing in there that should do that.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think the special counsel, Mr. Mueller, was fair to the president?

SEN. LEE: Well I think- the special counsel certainly was thorough. I- I- I find Pete's- pieces of the report a little bit odd. For example, when he talks about obstruction, I think it's odd to say I'm not going to make a recommendation, but I'm going to sound like I'm making a recommendation. There- there's- there's not evidence that I can point to, but nonetheless I couldn't get there even if I did. It's kind of strange to spend two years on that and then speak with the sort of a tone that is reminiscent of Pinocchio in the movie Shrek 3. "I'm not going to say that I'm not deciding" - it's full of double negatives. It's kind of confusing.

And with that, Schieffer just moved right along to ask Lee about his new book, rather than ask him just how much open criminality we've got to accept from this corrupt administration before you see anyone with an R behind their name start to take their oversight responsibilities seriously.

Of course, we all already know the answer to that, which is that they're never going to hold this administration accountable for anything they do, ever.

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