The Patriot Post® · Mueller the Merciful

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/59858-mueller-the-merciful-2018-12-06

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, according to court filings made public late Tuesday, is recommending that retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn serve no jail time due to the “substantial assistance” he has provided to the special counsel’s investigation. That’s good news for Gen. Flynn, and I am pleased for him and his family.

But let’s not forget that “Mueller the Merciful” once threatened Flynn’s son and his entire family with financial ruin unless he pleaded guilty to perjury regarding a perfectly legal phone conversation between himself and the Russian ambassador to the United States.

That said, large portions of Tuesday’s filings were redacted because Mueller said they pertained to ongoing investigations. Naturally, Big Media and #NeverTrumpers are excited by this news, insisting that Mueller is zeroing in on the president and key people around him. But there is no evidence of that.

This is a good moment to call out the basic injustice of the entire Mueller operation.

  • Robert Mueller was charged with investigating Russian interference in our election and whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

  • Mueller has brought numerous charges against Russians for meddling in our elections. That’s all well and good, even though none will ever be prosecuted in U.S. courts.

  • He has also charged several people connected to Donald Trump’s campaign, but none of those charges are related to collusion with the Russians. They are “process crimes” he created during the investigation. Or in the cases of Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, the charges relate to their personal finances and business dealings that date back to well before the Trump campaign.

Mueller and his staff of Hillary Clinton-supporting attorneys insist that if they discover other crimes in the course of their investigation they should prosecute them. There’s just one problem with that: The conversation Flynn had with the Russian ambassador was monitored by the U.S. government because the Russian ambassador is always monitored. 

But the law requires that when a monitored foreigner is recorded in a conversation with an American citizen, the American’s name is not to be disclosed. Someone in the Obama Administration leaked Gen. Flynn’s name to the media. That is a felony punishable by 10 years in prison. There is no indication Robert Mueller is doing anything to pursue that crime. 

Here’s something else Mueller is not investigating: Why were so many Deep State agents probing the Trump campaign and who authorized it? This may well be a scandal that makes Watergate look like child’s play.

Left-wing Hypocrisy

Yesterday I wrote about the absurdity of the left’s climate change jihad against the energy industry. As always, there’s a great deal of hypocrisy when it comes to the left.

For example, a U.N.-sponsored climate change conference kicked off in Poland this week. The “evil” carbon emissions from this one 12-day left-wing conference will exceed those of 8,000 American homes. 

Here’s an idea: Let’s put the bureaucrats on a strict budget and ban international conferences! Instead of jetting all over the world, they can use Skype.

And there’s Senator Bernie Sanders. He once declared climate change the “single greatest threat facing our planet.” But the socialist Sanders, who owns three homes, spent $300,000 on private jets in October! Those jets burn a lot of fossil fuels.

Here’s something else that’s sure to elevate your blood pressure. Senator Mazie Hirono thinks you’re too stupid to understand important issues. 

At a left-wing conference in Washington Tuesday, Hirono was asked how progressives could get voters to care more about the importance of the courts. Hirono said that liberals were not good at “connecting to people’s hearts,” adding, “…we Democrats know so much that is true, we have to kind of tell everybody how smart we are.”

Right. 

If liberals know so much, why don’t they know that life begins at conception? At least Barack Obama admitted that the question was beyond his pay grade.

If liberals know so much, why don’t they realize that the planet regularly warms and cools and was hotter well before fossil fuels were ever used?

If liberals are so smart, why are they so confused about marriage? And why do they think there are so many genders?

If liberals are so smart, why do they think that raising taxes makes the economy grow? 

If liberals know so much, why don’t they seem to understand that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel?

I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Listening to Hirono’s remarks, I immediately thought of one of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes: “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Well Done, Bob!

Of all the tributes to former President George H.W. Bush, perhaps the most poignant was the silent salute by former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. (Bush and Dole had quite a history.)

The 95-year old veteran of World War II needed the help of an aide to stand up from his wheelchair, but he wanted to honor his friend and former comrade-in-arms. It was a remarkable picture.

So much so that I strongly recommend that every NFL owner post the photo in their locker rooms as a reminder to their millionaire athletes of what America is really all about. 

By the way, Colin Kaepernick, that’s how a true patriot shows his respect for his country and our flag — he stands.

In related news, the nation paid its final respects to the former president during yesterday’s state funeral at the National Cathedral. The president and first lady were seated in the front row, along with former Presidents Obama, Clinton and Carter. Thankfully, the service was not marred by cheap political shots.

In fact, it seems there is something of a truce forming between the Bush family and the president. 

First Lady Melania Trump hosted Laura Bush and several members of the Bush family Tuesday during a private tour of the White House Christmas decorations. Later in the day, the president and first lady visited George and Laura Bush at Blair House.