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| © Alex Wong, Getty Images Then-FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, on June 19, 2013. |
By Rick Hall, USA TODAY
Editors note: The opinions in this article are the authors, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily News or dearJulius.com.
I am an Alabamian and a lifelong conservative. I am 56, and have never voted for a Democrat in a presidential election. I am a white, middle-aged attorney living and working where I was born. I’m an evangelical Christian. I am pro-life. I cling to my guns and religion.
Some may call me a “deplorable.” My life is a caricature of a Donald Trump supporter. But I am not. I never have been. From day one, I knew enough about his celebrity act, his business and personal practices, and his prior support of liberal causes to know he was not a person I would want as commander in chief.
President Trump has lived his entire life as a man to whom the rules do not apply, be they rules of polite behavior, rules of marital fidelity, rules against sexual exploitation and rules of law. The president now threatens to be the judge of his own campaign’s conduct, acting as a medieval king who is above the law and takes what he wants, answering to no one. When a man reveals his true character, believe him, and react accordingly.
Here’s my reaction: Trump’s attack on the investigation headed by Robert Mueller is wrong, and fails to put America first. He and his campaign are subject to scrutiny for wrongdoing, just like every other American. Far from the investigation being a disgrace as the president claims, it would be a disgrace to not thoroughly evaluate possible wrongdoing.
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I seriously doubt the president colluded with any Russians, and he knows best what a completed investigation will reveal on that point. I do not have that same confidence level in his subordinates. As the president himself noted at one point, he needs to know if any subordinates were disloyal and involved a foreign power in our election. Insistence on a thorough vetting would be putting America first.
I naively thought Trump’s campaign was over when he slandered Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain’s service because he was captured with his body broken into pieces. It obviously was not. Now Trump is attacking another decorated war hero, Mueller, who despite being wounded in battle as a young man, kept heroically leading his troops. Since his military service, Mueller has spent decades in public service acclaimed by all — especially Republicans.
The efforts to delegitimize the investigation represent a precursor to ending the investigation by presidential fiat. We’re reading a page from Bill and Hillary Clinton’s playbook to attack those who investigate wrongdoing and witnesses who speak to that misconduct.
Compare the Clintons’ attacks on “that woman” (a barely adult Monica Lewinsky) and other women they labeled as bimbos, with Trump’s verbal assaults on those who speak against him. Compare the president’s missives against Mueller and those working with him to the Clintons’ attacks on Ken Starr. The Republican leaders now are just like the Democratic leaders then. God has a sense of humor: Trump’s base, in its hatred of the Clintons, nominated and elected the only Republican who can approach the Clintons in mendacity and dishonor.
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And the dishonesty cannot be understated. Trump falsely states that Mueller — a lifelong Republican — has a conflict of interest, without bothering to identify that conflict. Perhaps the “conflict” is the gall to aggressively investigate his campaign and associates.
The president also claims the investigation is “headed up by Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama.” Fact check: None of them worked for former president Obama, any more than they now work for Trump. If employment during any given administration translates to bias for federal officials, can we then say that Trump is being investigated by his own employees who are biased for him? The reality is that any experienced public servant will serve under multiple administrations.
Most egregiously, the president has stated the Mueller investigation is “an attack on our country in a true sense, it's an attack on what we all stand for.” This statement provides a succinct example of why I disagreed with his Republican nomination and object to much of his current “leadership.” While claiming to make America great, he does not know what already has made America great — we are a nation of laws, not men. That is what we stand for: Equality of all before the law. The Mueller investigation goes to the very core of why America has been a beacon of freedom over two centuries.
We should all let Trump know we are Americans, not loyal subjects. The Mueller investigation must run its course, and let the chips fall where they may.
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