From the political machine that brought us "It depends on what the meaning of is, is,"
language that makes me wonder if journalists and deep state operatives all really aspire to be the more mushy-headed, prevaricating variety of stereotypical corporate lawyer:
But the larger problem with Mueller’s case was neatly summed up in his exchange with Republican Representative Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania. “You made a decision not to prosecute?” Reschenthaler asked.
“No,” Mueller replied, “we made a decision not to decide whether to prosecute or not.”
That one fundamental decision—the decision not to decide, because he believed doing so would be inherently unfair, given Justice Department guidelines barring indictment of a sitting president and Trump’s corresponding inability to have his day in court—ensured that Mueller’s testimony, like his investigation itself, wouldn’t resolve anything. And that’s far more than a matter of mere optics. It’s a built-in flaw in the basic script, one that Charlton Heston as Moses himself couldn’t counter—and one that Mueller would strenuously argue was neither his preference nor of his own making, but one that he, and the rest of us, must to learn to live with. To act on, or not.
See, given his own preferences in a world of his own making, Mueller wouldn't have had to live with a decision not to decide, against the wishes and direction of his superior, AG Barr. But he courageously decided not to decide and then to live with the consequences or non-consequences, or not. And then to sort of testify about it, but not.
Really fancy way of saying "we abdicated our responsibilities." Either that (or more likely), "we didn't have enough to prosecute him, so rather than admit that, we are pretending that we simply decided 'not to decide'."
ReplyDeleteThe whole pretense of "deciding not to decide" is a legal fiction. A prosecutor prosecutes or he does not. In this case, Mueller did not. He can spin however he likes, but he DID decide not to prosecute. As evidenced by the fact that he neither prosecuted the case, nor even recommended doing so.
Really fancy way of saying "we abdicated our responsibilities."
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of the current Special Counsel statute is that Mueller, in his Vol 2, straight up violated the law. That statute required the Special Counsel to return, in his mandated classified report to the AG, an explicit recommendation for or recommendation against charging.
Deciding not to recommend was illegal.
Eric Hines
And thus the native hue of Resolution
ReplyDeleteIs sicklied o'er, with the pale cast of Thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment, [F: pith]
With this regard their Currents turn awry, [F: away]
And lose the name of Action
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III
Hamlet is exactly what I was thinking about, too.
ReplyDeleteAvi, is the consensus "pith" or "pitch"? I was instructed "pitch" in the falconer's sense -- the highest point of a hawk's flight before the "fell swoop". (C.f. Macbeth )
ReplyDeleteBut the "pith" or important part of the deepest interior works, too.
It's amazing to me that handwritten rolls and actor's memories managed to preserve ANY of this canon for exegesis.