Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., noting Robert Mueller’s appearance before Congress did not produce any damning new evidence to prove former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 elections, says the former FBI director’s alleged mental decline is to blame, a Washington Examiner columnist writes.
Columnist Becket Adams, citing Schiff’s new book, “Midnight in Washington,” said the congressman quietly had challenged the then-special counsel’s cognitive abilities.
Schiff chairs the House Intelligence Committee and claims it was “heartbreaking” to watch the 76-year-old former FBI director’s testimony, according to Adams.
“Had I known how much he had changed,” (Schiff) alleges in his forthcoming book, “‘I would not have pursued his testimony with such vigor — in fact, I would not have pursued it at all,'” Adams said.
According to the columnist, Schiff claims in the book that he personally instructed others on the committee to make their questions to Mueller simple.
“No questions calling for a narrative answer,” Schiff writes. “No multipart questions. If you think your question may be too long, it is. Cut it down.”
According to the Examiner, “As we know now, Mueller’s testimony did not, in fact, breathe new life into the Russia collusion story. Just the opposite happened: His appearance before Congress was the final killing blow to a story that had already fallen apart.”
Mueller had testified before the committee on July 24, 2019.
Adams wrote, “Mueller, who was reluctant to testify in the first place, gave an unremarkable performance, much to the anguish and chagrin of the anti-Trump ‘resistance.’ He gave very basic and boring answers and stuck to his game plan of discussing only the contents of his 400-page Russia investigation report. Now, Schiff claims Mueller’s testimony didn’t go as planned because the former FBI director is suffering from mental decline.
“Like the report itself, Muller’s testimony was a dud. It revealed nothing that wasn’t already in the report, and it obviously did not lead to Trump’s removal from office.”
