Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accomplished very little and said it is time to wrap up the investigation.
Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, said that the investigation should not continue past July.
Congressman Byrne said, “It has been one year since Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian collusion related to the 2016 presidential election and very little has been accomplished. It is time for Mr. Mueller to wrap up his investigation.
On Thursday, Representative Brooks went on CSPAN.
“I just want him to do his job,” Brooks said on TV. “Finish it. We cannot have this ongoing for years and years and years. It’s a distraction to our country. It interferes with our ability to address a lot of serious policy challenges that we face, and that’s in Congress. Imagine what it’s like in the White House where you’re having to look over your shoulder, where you have the FBI that is doing – you know if something was wrong, you’ve had two years now come July 5th that the FBI has been involved. Do your job. Finish it.”
“Mr. Mueller has a large team of lawyers and has spent millions of dollars over the past year, yet there still is no indication of illegal Russian collusion,” Byrne said. “While this constant drama of targeted leaks and far-flung investigations may be good for the national news media and liberal fundraising, it is not good for our country.”
The CSPAN host asked Brooks: “Robert Mueller appointed by Rod Rosenstein a year ago today on May 17th, 2017. Since then, 19 people including four Trump associates and three companies have been indicted from his investigation, five have pled guilty, 13 of those who have been charged are Russians accused of meddling in the elections. You were a former prosecutor in the Tuscaloosa DA’s office before…”
Brooks: “And the Madison County District Attorney’s office.”
C-SPAN: “…before coming to Congress. Is that not a good track record for a year’s worth of investigation?”
Brooks: “Well, you’re limiting it to Mueller. I’m talking about the big picture, and the big picture is two years. You know sometimes you’re not able to figure out who committed a crime— you know a crime has been committed— a murder or a robbery or what have you and the trail has gone dry and you haven’t been able to ascertain who the culprit is and you stop your investigation. It may reopen if something in the future pops up that suggests, hey, this is the person who did it. But we never had an ongoing investigation of a particular person that lasted anywhere near that length of time. Now, granted, this may be more complicated than most investigations. But two years, given all the resources of the Justice Department, given all the resources of the FBI, given the resources of everybody else who may have been involved in that, that’s plenty of time to conduct an investigation. Now keep in mind, I’m talking about two years to do the investigation— once you’ve got your cards laid out on the table, you’ve got your arrest warrants, you’ve got your indictments, take whatever time it needs to prosecute them in court but get the investigation done because it’s interfering. This is not a normal type of alleged crime and investigation and a prosecution. Normally, that’s very limited and has virtually no impact on our country. But, right now, this going on indefinitely is having a significant— in my judgment— having a significant adverse effect on the ability of the United States government to properly function and properly do its job, particularly at the Executive Branch, particularly at the White House level.”
“Ensuring the integrity of our elections and upholding the rule of law are both critically important and noble causes, but after a year the time has come for Mr. Mueller to either put forward a case or move on,” Byrne said.
Congress is increasingly putting pressure on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to end the Mueller investigation. To this point Rosenstein has resisted that pressure.
Both Congressmen Bradley Byrne and Mo Brooks are running for re-election. Byrne has no Republican opponent in the coming primary, while Brooks faces a primary challenger from veteran Clayton Hinchman. The Republican Primary will be on June 5.
