Photo Credit: Architect of the Capitol
By Rachel Dalloo
On March 22, the Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent in his final report to Attorney General William Barr. The report, according to Barr, detailed that there was no collusion between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia to influence the election. He also later said that he will be delivering to Congress a redacted version of the report after many have called for the full report instead of Barr’s summary.
Congress should be able to get the full report without redactions. The American people need to hear the truth behind those blacked out lines. What is behind those redactions may expose more truth to the country, about the president and his 2016 Campaign, mostly than others in the report.
“First, Mueller’s scope was limited to finding out the truth about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Interference in the 2016 election,” Warren said. “Until the full unredacted report is release to Congress, there is going to be continued speculation as to what actually happened. This is going to be difficult for the Democratic controlled House because the Republicans control the Senate and has blocked every effort to release the full report.”
With the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated report that investigated the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, many are questioning whether Mueller did his job right. Throughout the past two years of Donald Trump’s presidency, many people that are tied to the president, whether they worked with his 2016 Presidential Campaign or directly in his Administration have been charged, subpoenaed, or even convicted of felonies. Sometimes on charges that they have misled prosecutors on details about relations with a foreign government.
The U.S. Government consists of the executive, judicial and the legislative branch. The duty of the Congress is to make laws that will impact and influence the lives of the American people all around the country. A hearing done by Congress is to question those who have the information, get to the bottom of a controversial situation and expose the truth to the American public as much as possible.
Michael Cohen, former personal Lawyer for Donald Trump, pleaded guilty to lying to prosecutors about the Trump Moscow Project, back in 2016. When Cohen decided to come forward and spill the truth on Trump, in front of a public congressional testimony, President Trump went on a Twitter rant.
“Michael Cohen was one of many lawyers who represented me (unfortunately). He had other clients also. He was just disbarred by the State Supreme Court for lying & fraud. He did bad things unrelated to Trump. He is lying in order to reduce his prison time. Using Crooked lawyer!” Trump tweeted.
Even though, Trump had tried to downplay both his and Cohen’s connections, they had shared a mutual personal friendship over 10 years. Trump may be right, claiming that Cohen may have decided to “come clean” to shorten his sentencing. The truth, however, is that that is not how Congress works. You do the crime; you do the time. Michael Cohen lied to Congress the first time, by not providing the factual details on the Trump-Moscow meeting.
The issue that surrounds all of this is that, no one can seem to wrap their heads around the fact that Cohen would really put his own life on the line for a man who would not even think twice about doing the same for anyone but himself.
“I do not think that Cohen is continuing to lie for Trump but will do everything in his power to reduce his sentence,” said Junis Warren, an associate professor of Political Science at York. “He is between a rock and hard place, having been rebuffed and rejected by Trump, he feels that the only out of this mess is to tell the truth to save whatever little reputation he has left.”
In late 2018, multiple reports showed that Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, had lied to Congress about Trump officials having contact Russians. He is among multiple people that are willing to lie on behalf of the President. He had also lied about payments made to cover up his personal debt. It is quite obvious that Manafort is not in line with telling the truth.
“Manafort can’t be trusted,” Warren added. “He has continued to lie to Mueller and refused to cooperate because he is expecting a Presidential pardon. It is his ace-in-the-hold. A bargaining chip that he will continue to hold over the Trump administration.”
Sometimes, it may seem like Congress is filled with too many people who cannot agree on policies, and for that, they may be taken for granted. However, Congress should never be taken for granted. They serve the American people and help provide the truth whenever possible when the nation demands it.
