RUSH: It is amazing to watch. The Democrat Party is literally losing its mind here, folks. That’s what you’re watching. That is what we are watching take place here. And I’m gonna try to chronicle this and sensitize all this down to its base elements, take the complex and make it understandable here, what is going on.
This is what the slow creep of insanity looks like. And if it were happening to a family member of yours, you would be in a state of panic right now and you would be seeking expert advice on what to do about it.
Great to have you as we launch another three hours of broadcast excellence from here, the EIB Southern Command. Great to have you with us. Telephone number is 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.
We’re on the verge of the House — what is this committee? (interruption) The Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler. There’s so many of these damn committees. There’s the investigations committee, there’s the Judiciary Committee, there’s the Intelligence Committee. Regardless, they’re on the verge here of voting to hold the attorney general, William Barr, in contempt of Congress for failing to produce 2% of the Mueller report. That’s what they want to see.
Barr has offered to let them see the least redacted version. The only thing that he will not let them see is that which is covered by grand jury testimony. Federal law requires that grand jury testimony cannot be made public. They are essentially demanding that the attorney general break the law and hand over an unredacted version of the Mueller report to them.
Now, to prove that they don’t really want to see the Mueller report, that’s not what this is about. You’ve heard this term 6(e) material. 6(e) material is the legal identification for grand jury material when talking about law in statutory ways. And the truth of the matter is that it’s this Congress, the United States Congress which passes the laws in this country which declared grand jury testimony may not be made public other than by the people who testify before it.
The prosecutors cannot make it public. Nobody in that room can make it public by an act of Congress. They are asking the attorney general to violate their own law in making it public. The question to ask, in the last two months, in the last two weeks, whatever time frame, has the Democrat majority in Congress attempted to change the law, allowing grand jury material to be made public?
No, they have not! It is still illegal. They have not changed the law, which they can do if they want. They can try. Somebody could have introduced legislation saying, “You know what? Going forward, grand jury material will not be protected, it will not be redacted from any legal reports. We’re gonna make it all public.” They could have done that. They could have gotten that law changed. They didn’t make an effort to change the law.
So what this boils down to is, and just synthesizing this down to its base element, this is not about the Mueller report. This is not about what they think is in it that they don’t know. It’s not about the fact that they think key evidence regarding collusion or obstruction is being withheld from them. It’s not about that at all.
This is about discrediting the attorney general as he begins his investigation into the investigation into how this all happened. The investigation into the Obama DOJ, the investigation into James Comey, the investigation into the FISA court, the FISA warrant process, the investigation into the Steele dossier and its origins, which is Hillary Clinton, the DNC. That investigation, which Barr has already begun and which the current FBI director Christopher Wray has acknowledged he’s taking part in, this is all an attempt to discredit Barr.
And the best way to discredit Barr is to have it reported in your sycophantic Drive-By Media that the attorney general conducting this investigation was held in contempt by Congress. They just want this vote to take place so that the attorney general will have it said about him that he has been held in contempt of Congress. That is supposed to discredit whatever his investigation produces.
We got a random act of journalism on CNN today. Audio sound bite number 1 on the program they call Newsroom. Evan Perez, the Justice Department correspondent for CNN, was asked the following questions: “The Democrats are gonna vote to hold Barr in contempt. How symbolic is that? Is this a negotiation just like Republicans held Eric Holder in contempt and were able to get the White House to negotiate and get those documents on Fast and Furious? Is that the best case outcome for the Democrats here?”
PEREZ: I find it odd that the Democrats decided to use this as the thing to hold the Attorney General in contempt over. I mean, look. They have a lot of things to be mad at him over. They accused him of misleading testimony. Obviously he didn’t show up for a hearing in the past week. So there’s a lot of things that they could be mad about. And this one, this is a report that is 92% public. Only 8% of it was unredacted. (sic) The Attorney General last week in his testimony said only 2% of volume 2, which is the thing that the Democrats say they care most about, the obstruction part, is redacted. So, you know, it’s kind of hard to understand how they went nuclear so quickly on this. It seems rather like they have started a constitutional crisis, not the other way around.
RUSH: Well, it’s exactly right. Two percent of what they want — two volumes in the Mueller report. Volume 1 is on Russian collusion. A, there wasn’t any. Volume 2 is on obstruction in which Mueller said, “Hell, I can’t exonerate Trump on this, so I’m gonna turn it over to Congress.” He’s not supposed to exonerate anybody. It’s not what prosecutors do.
Anyway, volume 2 of the Mueller report dealing with obstruction, only 2% of it is redacted! Only 2%! There’s nothing in this report that’s gonna shed any new light on anything, and they know it, and even their buddies in the Drive-By Media, “Of all things you want to hold Barr in contempt over, why not go get him for not showing up before you last week instead of this?” Even the Drive-Bys are confused.
The Democrats are in a hurry, as you will hear. Pelosi is losing her mind. We’ve got more evidence of this. It goes above and beyond that which we had yesterday. The House Democrats, folks, are irresponsible, they are hysterical, and it’s fear, it is fear that can do this. We’ve got this Horowitz inspector general report looming out there. We have Barr’s investigation that has begun, the investigation of the investigation. It’s driving the Democrats insane. Mueller’s report, and again, try to think of it the way they do.
For 2-1/2 years, however absurd this may sound to you and however unrealistic it may sound to you, these people — the Democrats on this committee, the Democrats in the House, the Democrats in the media, the Democrats everywhere — believed that Trump had colluded with Russia because their media told them. I think even those who didn’t believe it at first, got swept up, and they ended up believing it.
And even if they didn’t believe it, they believed that Robert Mueller was going to deliver the silver bullet, was gonna show Trump the sign of the cross that would make Trump go hide in the darkness like Dracula. They really believed! They got up every day and they believed it in their hearts. They believed it in every fiber of their existence that Mueller was going to lower the boom — and then here comes Mueller, “Sorry. Ehhhh, no collusion. Ehhhh, not enough evidence to find any obstruction.”
They have lost their minds. The Mueller report destroyed the “Trump is a traitor” narrative, destroyed the “Trump stole the election” narrative. But Mueller wanted to give the Democrats something to keep the country reeling, just like Vladimir Putin wanted. Mueller gave them “Trump must prove his innocence.” This, on the obstruction side. Mueller said, “Yeah, I can’t really… I don’t know. I can’t exonerate Trump on any of this.”
Well, it’s not his job to exonerate anybody. The prosecutor’s job is never to exonerate anybody. The accused does not have to prove his or her innocence. Look, you know the drill on this. Mueller wasn’t fired. Mueller wasn’t obstructed. There wasn’t anything done to stop Mueller. His investigation was not impeded. It was not impaired. The only thing obstructed, the only thing impeded, the only thing that was blown up was the Democrats’ attempted coup.
So here we are. Democrats are losing their collective minds because they have nothing more than threats, abuses of power, smears and abject panic over what is headed their way, and that is the sum total explaining everything they are doing here. The media’s gonna repackage Democrat panic and abuses of power as patriotism. It’s like Comey said. Comey said, “No, no, no. We don’t spy on people at the FBI. We investigate.”
(chuckling) So they are reeling. They have fear of Barr. They have fear of Trump. They have fear of truth. They have fear of a great, roaring economy. They are afraid of their own lunatic base. They are afraid of having no ideas to counter that which is producing great results in the country at the moment — and they have an institutional fear of success, independence, and freedom, because all of those things enjoyed by people mean that people don’t need Democrats.
None of this is playing out the way they dreamed for the last 2-1/2 years. It has blown up in their faces in every way imaginable. Now, you may have trouble looking at it this way because you’re watching tainted media report this. You’re seeing the media report that Trump is afraid. (impression) “Trump is scared to death! Trump is trying to hide the truth. Trump…” No. Trump is declaring and has asserted executive privilege over the full Mueller report, and let me explain to you what this means.
Even if the Democrats in this committee and then in the whole House vote to hold Barr in contempt, all they have done is stymie themselves for perhaps months as this winds its way through the courts to be resolved. So they hold Barr in contempt with their vote today. The White House then declares and asserts executive privilege over everything in this investigation. What does that mean? It means the Democrats do not have the Mueller report; the White House does.
The White House has everything associated with the Mueller report and Congress will get none of it until the courts have had a chance to deal with this. That means there’s gonna be lawsuits left and right. All of that means, it’s going to take a lot of time, and don’t think that… Nadler is out there saying that Trump is doing this because he wants to behave like a king, he wants to behave like a monarch, he wants to make like there is no coequal branch.
That is not what is happening here.
Trump is simply asserting the fact that the executive branch is independent, has its own area of government that it is in charge of and holds purview over, and they are asserting that. They are answerable to voters. They don’t operate at the whim of Jerry Nadler. The executive branch is not under permanent oversight like the Mueller report made it look like the executive branch is and like Trump is. They’re asserting executive privilege, and they’re telling Nadler and all these Democrats, “You do not get permanent oversight over everything.
“We have cooperated with you. We’ve cooperated all the way down the line. But you are attempting to use this material for something totally unrelated to what your stated purpose is, and we’re not gonna let you get away with it. We’re simply not gonna hold ourselves up and put ourselves in the firing line so you can start shooting at us.” Again, the Democrats are not doing this because they want to know what’s in the Mueller report. They’re not doing this because they think there’s a silver bullet in there that’s gonna get Trump.
Here. Let Jim Jordan from Ohio explain it. He’s on the House Judiciary Committee today. This is what he said during his time…
JORDAN: I don’t think last week’s hearing was actually about having staff questioning the attorney general. I think it’s like my colleague said earlier. I think it’s all about trying to destroy Bill Barr, because Democrats are nervous he’s gonna get to the bottom of everything. He’s gonna find out how and why this investigation started in the first place. The attorney general said 3-1/2 weeks ago in front of the Senate Finance Committee, “spying did occur.” He said it twice: “Yes, spying did occur.” Third, he said, “There’s a basis for my concern about the spying that took place,” and maybe the most interesting thing: Two terms he used that, frankly, I find frightening. He said there was — in his judgment, he thinks there may have been — “unauthorized surveillance and political surveillance.” Scary terms.
RUSH: There was political surveillance, and now… It’s amazing how things that have been hidden for a while are now being produced. John Solomon has found records of a meeting that took place in the Department of Justice that pretty much establish that Christopher Steele knew he was producing the dossier for political usage, that pressure was being applied to Steele to produce this thing, the dossier, before Election Day.
Steele was putting pressure on his people that were sourcing this thing to get it done by Election Day because it had political purposes. It was not intelligence related. It was not related to any allegation that Trump or his team were colluding with Russia. It was a political hit piece. It had to be readied by Election Day. There was pressure. It’s been discovered. So political surveillance in addition to unauthorized surveillance. All of this is taking place. The Democrats have been put on notice that we’re going to get to the bottom of it.
Do not doubt me when I tell you they are in fits of rage over this (because that’s consistent and constant), but they are afraid of this. The last thing in the world they ever expected was for this to do a 180. This was what was going to get rid of Trump. This was what was going to reverse the election results of 2016. Their entire existence, their lifeblood believed this. They were devoted to it for 2-1/2 years. They thought they had the game fixed. They thought they had everything rigged. They control all the people involved in making this happen, and it didn’t turn out their way — and now, there’s abject fear and panic.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT.
RUSH: Folks, this contempt citation if they end up voting for it, and they will, holding Barr in contempt, it’s going to backfire on them. The next thing you do after you hold him in contempt is you have to impeach him. What good is holding him in contempt if you don’t do anything about it? And they’re not gonna impeach Barr. They’re not gonna get anybody thrown out of office because The Turtle, Mitch McConnell, just proclaimed all of this is dead on arrival over in the Senate.
So this is gonna be it for Nadler and Pelosi. This is it. They’re not gonna be able to get rid of Barr. Barr is not going to be dissuaded from his duties by however this taints him, because it’s gonna end up backfiring on the Democrats like all of this has. All of this has backfired on them in ways they never imagined, and so is this. Because the backfire procedure is underway and is not changed at all.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, there could be another reason why the Democrats do want to see the 2% of volume 2 that has been redacted. But to hold the attorney general in contempt for not producing the full unredacted version. They did, by the way. You’ve heard the old saw, “Well, the Republicans held Eric Holder in contempt, and it’s common, it’s nothing.”
Yeah, but it took the Republicans 10 months of negotiating with the Department of Justice. Back then it was about documents proving Fast and Furious. You remember what that was. That was the Obama administration attempt to create public outrage about guns to facilitate action on chipping away at the Second Amendment.
What Fast and Furious was, was an Obama administration program that took guns, high-powered rifles and so forth, from American gun shops in Phoenix and saw to it that they ended up in the hands of drug cartels. And the drug cartels, of course, they kill people. They murder and they maim people. They do it with guns.
Okay. So there were documents proving this. Republican Congress wanted them. The attorney general was Eric Holder, and he refused for 10 months to turn them over, and after 10 months of negotiations is when they finally declared him in contempt of Congress. Now ask yourself this. How has being held in contempt of Congress changed Eric Holder’s life? Answer: Zip, zero, nada. It didn’t matter, and in fact most people don’t even remember it.
So I’m just telling you that William Barr is not quaking in his boots. This was predictable. The Democrats are nothing if not predictable, particularly when they’re insane and losing their minds. Now, there could be a reason why they want to see the 2% of the Mueller report, volume 2, on obstruction that has been redacted. And I think over on the collusion side it’s 8% that has been redacted.
All of this is one of two things: It’s either grand jury testimony, or it is material that gives away techniques and sources used by investigators that we wouldn’t want our supposed enemies to learn. So those are the two primary reasons things would be redacted.
Also, there’s a third reason, and that is not to harm people who are peripherally or on the fringe involved in this. They had nothing to do with it, they were interviewed, they were investigated, found they had nothing to do with it, they’re redacted so as no harm comes to their reputation or any of that.
So those are the three primary reasons. And all of these reasons are resulting from acts of law passed by Congress that they now want the attorney general to ignore. They want him to essentially break the law and unredact everything and give them full view and knowledge of the Mueller report. And it could well be that one of the things — don’t doubt me — they know that there’s nothing in this Mueller report that’s gonna convict Trump of anything. That’s a dead end, and they know it.
They’re just servicing their base. They’re just keeping their lunatic base happy when they act like, “Yeah, there’s something in there. We know there’s something in there that could get Trump in trouble, but Barr’s protecting Trump and that’s why we need to see it.” It’s all a caca, folks. They want their base to think that, but they know that no such evidence exists. They know it’s exact opposite.
It could well be that they are afraid of what Barr — well, we know they’re afraid of what Barr’s gonna find. Maybe they want to get a heads-up on the kind of things that were done that Barr is going to discover that they don’t yet know that the Mueller report may have found out and reported. And it may be in grand jury material. It may be in grand jury testimony that it was discovered that the investigation was corrupt or flawed in various ways. They have no way of knowing until they see it.
I think the one thing you can be confident in, they don’t want to see the full Mueller report because they honestly think there’s evidence in there to get Trump thrown out of office. They want their voters to believe that, but they know that’s not the case. This is about discrediting Barr going into his investigation and perhaps learning things that Barr is going to find out about them and their buddies.
Now, with Trump asserting executive privilege, what’s gonna happen as far as the media is concerned, Pelosi and Nadler, they’re gonna get their little win here, the media’s gonna be breathlessly reporting, “The attorney general has just been found in contempt of Congress by a vote of the Judiciary Committee,” blah, blah. But then that’s all they’ve got, and they’re not getting any more because Trump’s asserted executive privilege, and that means the Mueller report and everything about it and everything to do with the people who were interviewed all stays out of their reach and for months.
This is this is a tactical mistake they are making. They’re making a huge tactical mistake for the thrill and excitement of a one or two day news story they’ll look like heroes by holding Barr in contempt. But as to the substance with executive privilege now claimed over all this, and, by the way, most of this that Trump is asserting executive privilege over is probably not gonna be overturned. They’re not gonna get to see the 6(e) grand jury material. It’s still against the law. There’s no judge in the world that’s gonna make the attorney general break the law and release that, the very people who wrote the law claiming it must remain secret or private.
So by virtue of asserting executive privilege, the administration is going to deny the Democrat run Congress, the opportunity to see anything more than what they already have, which, in the long game, defeats the exact objective the Democrats went into this trying to achieve. They’ve been frozen out. And even if Trump loses on the executive privilege claims, it’s gonna be months before that is known because it’s gonna have to wind its way through the courts with all the appeals and everything involved. You know how slow that process is.
And by the time this gets anywhere near payoff, we’re gonna smack-dab in the middle of the presidential campaign, and all of the oxygen is gonna be taken up by the Democrat primary race. So whatever result of this court case involving executive privilege, yeah, it would end up being a factor in the campaign, but it’s gonna come so long after the emotional attachment to this issue, the emotional reservoir of this is gonna have run dry and they’re gonna have to try gin it all back up again, and they’re not gonna be able to do that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We go to Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s Matthew. Great to have you. Matthew, how are you?
RUSH: Yes. I don’t know about Strzok Smirk, but Rosenstein’s always been a Republican; so is Comey.
CALLER: Okay, and what about Mueller?
RUSH: Mueller has been a… Yeah, Mueller’s Republican too. They’re Never Trumpers. What does that matter?
CALLER: Well, that’s true. Yeah, I guess there’s a lot of guys out there who have an R next to their names but hate Trump.
RUSH: About 7% of the Republican Party. In that poll they had the other day of about the number of Americans that think Trump’s a traitor, 53% of Democrats think Trumps a traitor and 7% of Republicans. I guarantee you, one of them’s Comey. I guarantee you, one of them’s Mueller. I guarantee you, one of them’s Rosenstein. I guarantee you, a bunch of are Republicans in the FBI.
The Republicans have all kinds of Never Trumpers among ’em that hate Trump. Just because these guys are Republicans… Don’t fall for that. That committee guy that you saw is trying to deflect you and make you think that Trump is guilty. “Actually, these people may be on to something. Republicans wouldn’t do this to another Republican.” The hell they wouldn’t! They are leading… It doesn’t matter. I wish I had more time, but I’m about to lose it!
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Nancy Pelosi. She’s pushing back. Mitch McConnell yesterday said it’s over, case closed, we’re not doing anything more on this Mueller report. It’s over. You can do what you want in the House, but it’s gonna come and die here if you bring us anything.
So Pelosi is pushing back on The Turtle’s suggestion the case is closed. She said yesterday, “That’s just not a fact. The case is not closed.” In a talk at Cornell University’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, Pelosi said Congress would be delinquent if it failed to pursue its constitutional duties of oversight. It’s about protecting our democracy, she said.
She’s out there saying McConnell is afraid of what Mueller’s findings are. She’s saying that The Turtle is scared to death of what Mueller has, and it’s the exact opposite. Senate Democrats now say McConnell fears Mueller’s findings.
Pelosi went further. I tell you, these people, my friends, are, as I said at the beginning of the program, they’re losing their sanity before our eyes is what we’re actually watching. Pelosi said at this Cornell University Institute of Politics event that Democrats could not accept a second term for Donald Trump.
“We have to make sure – this will sound political, but – we have to make sure that the Constitution wins the next presidential election. We can’t be worrying about well how long is this going to take,” meaning this effort to destroy Trump. Well, it’ll take as long as it takes, and however long it takes is however long it takes. “And we will press the case so that, in the court of public opinion, people will know what is right. But, we cannot accept a second term for Donald Trump, if we are going to be faithful to our Democracy and to the Constitution of the United States.”
We cannot accept a second term for Donald Trump, if we are going to be faithful to our Democracy. I have to tell you, there’s nothing that shows being faithful to our democracy and the Constitution like saying in advance that you won’t accept the outcome of an election. Here is the Speaker of the House — while in the midst of trying to change the election results of 2016 — saying that she and her party will not accept the results of the 2020 election in order to save our democracy. How in the hell does that work to in advance, to save democracy, say you’re not gonna accept the results of an election?
You want to hear some insanity? I’ll let you hear some insanity. Grab audio sound bite number six. Sheila Jackson Lee. She’s on this committee. This was funny today, folks. In fact, I gotta share something with you here — and let me think about this. Let me think about this. Let me get back to that. I’ll think about whether or not I want to actually share this with you or not. Let’s go to Sheila Jackson Lee, number 6, and after that, number 7, and then maybe number 21. Sheila Jackson Lee, who…
This is the woman who when looking at the Mars Rover at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, was actually asking if the rover was gonna go over to where the astronauts had planted the flag. Of course, that was on the Moon. Astronauts haven’t been to Mars (unless Elon Musk takes secret trips there and doesn’t tell anybody). Of course, at the Johnson Space Center, they (sputtering) didn’t know quite how to answer this without embarrassing her. That’s who she is, and this is Trump derangement syndrome. This and the next bite are what it is.
RUSH: Yeah. These are 700 former federal prosecutors, all Democrats and a bunch of Never-Trumper Republicans. What it’s about is the Office of Legal Counsel. That’s the lawyer’s lawyers in the Justice Department. The lawyers for the lawyers in the Justice Department have, since 1979, held that a sitting president cannot be indicted, and there are a host of reasons for it. One of the primary reasons is if you can indict a sitting president, then you can weaponize the law, and the out-of-power party could simply charge the president in court with anything and everything they wanted until something stuck, and then basically tie him up and give the impression that he is a criminal in office.
They said, “We cannot have this. We cannot have this kind of paralysis of the head honcho of the executive branch of the government.” These people, every one of them, supports this — until somebody comes along like Trump that they hate. So now, they’re looking at volume 2 of Mueller’s report, which does not find obstruction. Mueller couldn’t find any that he wanted to put his name to. This is all a sham. This is all a trick. Mueller said (sputtering), “I’m sorry, but I — I — I can’t… I can’t exonerate the president here on — on acts of obstruction.”
Well, guess what? That’s not what prosecutors do. Nobody gets exonerated! You either charge somebody or you forget it. But you don’t release a 400-page report that is a gossip-rag novel of their actions unless you’re gonna charge them with crimes related to them! This report should never have been more than two pages, but it’s 448 pages of garbage designed to produce the exact reaction we’re getting from the Democrats. So now you’ve got these former prosecutors; a bunch of them are Never Trumpers.
“Yeah, if he weren’t president, we would prosecute. This obstruction. There’s no question.”
Well, you’re not prosecuting, and he is president; so your opinions are irrelevant except as far as they go in creating a political take or political atmosphere. But there’s nothing legal about these people and their opinions because it’s irrelevant — and 717,000 former federal prosecutors signing anything is not gonna change a whit. They’re trying to change public opinion with it. I’ll tell you, I’m confident this is all gonna backfire on these people. Don’t doubt me on this. They just can’t let go of this, and this is not what people want their lives to be devoted to each and every day is keeping up with this. Mark my words.
One more before we go to the break. Steve Cohen, Democrat, Tennessee…
RUSH: The Mueller report does not say it’s so. There’s no evidence that Trump has ever taken a dime from Russia to prop him up during bankruptcy. The president never filed for bankruptcy. Cohen is the exact kind of guy that wouldn’t know how to analyze and break down the structure or organization of a business like Trump’s. “We’ve got a man who — it’s been suggested — might be financially dependent on the Russia”? Who is suggesting this? Some lamebrain on MSNBC? Who’s suggesting this? This is Trump derangement syndrome right in front of your eyes.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: As for Steve Cohen, this Democrat from Tennessee, it’s classic. He doesn’t have the slightest idea. He’s pig ignorant of how real estate or any large business works. Trump’s losses, that billion-dollar loss? Those were paper losses, losses of money he never actually had. Trump did not become any poorer for it. But I’m gonna share with you the New York Times story from 1995 — in which they claimed that Trump came back from one of the greatest depths anybody ever had and he was a hero.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here’s James in Morehead City, North Carolina. Great to have you. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you doing?
RUSH: Good. Good, sir.
CALLER: Good to talk to you. Quick question for you. I don’t understand. Barr released an unredacted report for Congress last week, the week before last. How can he held in contempt when he’s already released it?
RUSH: Well, because there is not a totally unredacted version available for members of Congress to look at. The version that is available for them is 98% unredacted on obstruction and 95% unredacted on collusion, and it’s in a room somewhere up on Capitol Hill where any member of Congress can go look at it. And now? Now they’re even granted permission to take notes. Originally, they couldn’t take notes. They can’t take it out of there, they can’t take any pictures of it, but they can take notes. Not one Democrat has been up to read it. Only 12 members of Congress have been up there to look at it, I think, and no Democrats.
CALLER: Go figure that.
RUSH: Well, it just proves that they’re not finding Barr in contempt here because they want to know what’s in the Mueller report. They already know what’s in the Mueller report, and they know that there’s nothing in the redactions that’s gonna prove collusion, and there’s nothing in the redactions that’s gonna prove obstruction. They’re already acting… I mean, they’ve got these former prosecutors and their stupid letter that they’ve all signed claiming, “If Trump were not president, he would be prosecuted for obstruction, and he would be in jail right now.”
So by their own reactions to this, there isn’t anything in the report that they’re not already acting like they know. Don’t doubt me on this. The reason that they’re holding Barr in contempt has nothing to do with the redactions; it has nothing to do with Barr hiding anything from them. This is the Democrats doing what they do best. This is their primary objective in politics, and that is to destroy their political opponents — to destroy their credibility, to impugn their integrity, to go after and literally ruin them in terms of public image and reputation.
This is because Barr is beginning an investigation of the investigation. That’s all this is — and now that Trump has reserved and asserted executive privilege, that’s fired ’em up even more. Now they’ve got (impression), “Trump is violating the Constitution, obviously trying to hide something.” I think it’s a rope-a-dope. I think all this… (laughing) I think these people are being roped in, and they don’t even understand how and when the knockout punch is gonna be coming. But there’s gonna be one. They’re just flaying away, folks.
They’re flying into this stuff blind. They are being driven by the poison of hatred. There isn’t any reasoned strategy to what they’re doing here. Now they’ve seen to it (with Trump asserting executive privilege) that this whole thing they’re worked up about is now gonna be legally paralyzed for months, which means for months! Nobody’s gonna see the Mueller report! Nobody’s gonna see it, because Trump has just told ’em they can’t. They have to wait for a court to reverse this now, if a court does. They have just…
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: For all this talk about holding Barr in contempt, the actual vote hasn’t happened yet, and the White House has not asserted full-fledged executive privilege yet. The dance is still going on. There’s still a bunch of votes that have to happen before full-fledged contempt is voted.
First the Judiciary Committee led by Nadler and that crazed bunch of people on the Democrat side have to vote for it, then it has to go to the whole House. Now, I mean, if the Judiciary Committee votes it out, the whole House will take it up and vote for it. The Democrats run it. But it hasn’t happened yet. And the White House has not declared full-fledged executive privilege. They have announced what is called protective executive privilege, which applies to specific things but not everything. And it establishes, it’s their response in the dance here.
You know, it’s a game of chicken that’s still going on. Nadler thinks that he can still force Trump and Barr to heel by threatening to hold Barr in contempt. All the speechifying today in the House, both sides, Republicans and Democrats, but there hasn’t actually been a vote on it yet. And the media — to watch this is kind of funny. The media has been breathless reporting for almost four hours now, “The vote is imminent, the vote is upcoming on holding Barr in contempt.”
But the vote is not imminent. It may not happen. The dance is still underway. So the White House declaration or assertion of protective privilege is not blanket. It primarily is their response. “Okay. You’re gonna hold this guy in contempt. If you do that, we’re gonna declare full-fledged executive privilege.” And nobody wants that because you people are gonna be freezing yourself out for as long as it takes the courts to adjudicate this.
So it could well be that there will be a resolution — I don’t know what it would be, don’t misunderstand. And I’m not privy to any negotiations going on at the moment. I’m just telling you that they have not voted contempt yet. They keep threatening to and the media keeps breathlessly reporting that it’s imminent, but it hasn’t happened yet. And if it does happen in the committee that Nadler runs, it still has to go to the full House, which, I mean, it would take time for this to happen.
The media, of course, wants the story to advance. They want all of this to happen. And so they’re acting like it is a fait accompli. But it isn’t yet. It may well happen. I have no feeling for it, how it’s gonna go. If your only source for any of this is the media, then you probably already believe it has happened. And this is why I’m taking the time to tell you that it hasn’t.
These are public threats both to hold Barr in contempt and for the White House to assert executive privilege. And they are still trying to find a resolution. Now, I don’t know what it would be, because what the Democrats want is an unredacted version of the Mueller report, and that is not legal, lawfully permissible. It’s not legal because of the grand jury testimony in there and some of the people peripherally involved that have to be protected so they won’t be ruined, so the media doesn’t start knocking on their door. People that have nothing to do with anything, but they were interviewed, they were looked at because it was thought maybe they might have something to do with it.
There’s all kinds of raw data in this that has to be redacted as a matter of law. Congress passed the law that grand jury testimony cannot be made public. And here comes Nadler and his band of merry Democrats demanding that Barr break the law and unredact everything so they can see it.
Now, Nadler and his people are promising that there will be no leaks, that nobody will see it but us on this committee. Ha. And the White House and everybody is saying, BS to that. The minute we give you an unredacted version of this, within seconds it’s gonna be all over the country. Everybody knows it. So we’ll see how it actually ends up.
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