July 24, 2019

Trump Kicks Off Mueller Day With Greatest Hits of Attacks Against Special Counsel

The president took aim at Clinton, McCabe, Comey—and even suggested Mueller should have investigated himself.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24:U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media about the Mueller report before departing from the White House on July 24, 2019 in Washington, DC. Today former special counsel Robert Mueller testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on his reports findings. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)Mark Wilson/Getty

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With the clock ticking before former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before Congress, President Donald Trump blasted the highly anticipated hearings as unfair and falsely accused his political opponents of fabricating crimes against him. 

The president also complained about a last-minute request by Mueller to have his longtime aide, Aaron Zebley, testify with him as a witness before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees. The Judiciary Committee ultimately denied the request but allowed Zebley to appear with Mueller should the former special counsel require assistance during the hearings.

Still, Trump framed the arrangement as a violation of what had been agreed upon, even though the White House lacks a role in determining how the hearings are organized. He continued his rant by taking aim at Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and other usual targets, even suggesting that Mueller should have investigated himself.

Trump’s latest outburst against Mueller, delivered in a series of tweets, came as Mueller prepares to answer lawmakers’ questions on the findings of the Russia investigation. Committee Republicans are likely to echo the president’s longstanding attacks against the special counsel while resurrecting a number of Deep State conspiracy theories designed to discredit the special counsel’s two-and-a-half-year probe.

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In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

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