Robert Mueller is About to Be Smeared By Trump’s Allies in the Media
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Politics Features Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller is on the verge of being attacked in major media. So says one of Trump’s biggest sycophants (Jacob Wohl) and an investigative journalist working to reveal hard evidence on the Trump-Russia case, Scott Stedman.
I wasn’t going to report on this, but I think my fears are coming true. Based on information that I am privy to, I believe false accusations will be spread about Mueller in order to discredit him and possibly the journalists who are preparing this story. https://t.co/HQXTvPYirD
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
This likely won’t be a smear using concrete facts, like how Mueller helped round up 1,000 not-terrorists after 9/11, or how he bungled the famed anthrax case by going after an innocent man (who was awarded $5 million in compensation), or how he was OK with the CIA conducting torture programs after his own agents warned him against participating in it. No, like all Trump attacks, this will almost surely be cocooned in lies, as Stedman predicted.
I worked on this story and chased down leads, but found the woman to be very unreliable. She wouldn’t get on the phone, she lied about journalists she was working with, etc. Furthermore, I got in contact with the man who allegedly was offering the money….
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
I still don’t know what to make of the entire situation, but I fear that this is a scheme to discredit those who are reporting on the Russia investigation. If the story coming out tomorrow matches the story I heard, I will post more details.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
IMPORTANT: If you see a story tomorrow or anytime in the future of former colleagues of Mueller coming forward with sexual assault claims then please check in with my feed. I have receipts.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
Wohl just told me his info is coming from a GOP lobbyist, which makes me increasingly worried. I fear that someone covering Mueller has fallen for a fake story.
— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 30, 2018
As always, I need to point out that Robert Mueller himself cannot do much to punish Trump for his obvious crimes. Impeachment is a political question, not a legal one. Mueller is simply investigating, and it’s up to Congress how to treat that investigation. There’s even a good chance that we won’t ever see Mueller’s results, since so much was likely acquired through classified programs, and classified information cannot be introduced into court since it would go into the public record. This is why Mueller has been trying to flip Paul Manafort, as he likely can publicly reveal a bunch of information that Mueller has obtained through the CIA, NSA, etc…
Attacks of this nature on Mueller could easily work too. We already know that Trump could say that the sky is made of marmalade and his brain-dead followers would unanimously believe him, but the fear here is how major media will cover it. As today’s absurdity on Trump’s desire to reverse the 14th amendment demonstrates (where a Supreme Court case from 1898 proves that he does not have the ability to do what he wants to do, yet no one in major media is framing it that way), the mainstream media would prefer to repeat Trump’s lies rather than fact-check them. If unsubstantiated allegations like what Stedman detailed against Robert Mueller surface, the “journalistic” policy of both-sidesism employed by the media would undoubtedly make them look more credible. We live in an era of rising fascism, and we lack the national tools and institutions to effectively combat it. God help us all.
Jacob Weindling is a staff writer for Paste politics. Follow him on Twitter at @Jakeweindling.