AP: Trump Plans to Beat Mueller’s Report With Help From Fox News

Donald Trump has been attacking Bob Mueller’s special counsel investigation for nearly two years, calling it “a witch hunt” and “a hoax.”  But according to the Associated Press, he may try to claim victory and upend Robert Mueller’s report no matter what it says.

Mueller may issue a report any day now, and as we wait the president and his Republican allies are saying that they expect it to show no clear evidence of Trump wrongdoing. They continue to maintain that the Trump campaign did not conspire (or “collude”) with Russia during the 2016 campaign which gave Trump a surprising victory.

Trump and his GOP congressional allies seem strangely confident that he will be exonerated despite Mueller’s findings. In fact, they are now saying that the Muller report will be used for Trump’s political advantage.

The AP reported:

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“One scenario would have seemed downright implausible until recently. The president will take the findings and run on them, rather than against them, by painting the special counsel as an example of failed government overreach and Trump himself as the victim who managed to prove his innocence.”

Mueller’s investigation is clearly not a “witch hunt” in that it has so far led to the indictments of 34 people, including six Trump associates. The special counsel has issued lengthy indictments and other court documents which have described a massive campaign by Russia to interfere in the U.S. presidential election on behalf of the president.

And there is evidence that the former reality TV star and his family and associates were eager to take advantage of Russia’s help.

Trump, however, continues to assert that the Mueller probe is an effort to undermine him by his “deep state” political enemies in the federal government and the Democratic Party. And his defenders in the GOP and right-wing media plan to exploit weaknesses in the Mueller report to claim the president is innocent of all charges of collusion or conspiracy.

Newt Gingrich, a strong Trump supporter, explained:

“Trump can say, here is the report, I didn’t fire Mueller, I didn’t interfere with him. If you want to keep investigating me, it just shows that it is purely partisan.”

Trump and His Allies Will Try to Weaponize the Mueller Report

Trump has reportedly told his inner circle of advisers that he will use Twitter to gloat if Mueller cannot directly tie him to a Russia conspiracy. He has been setting the stage for nearly two years by claiming dozens of times there was “no collusion.”

According to the AP, Trump’s own advisers and consultants will work with pro-Trump political groups and conservative media such as Fox News to portray the Mueller investigation as a failed attempt at a “coup.”

Trump and his surrogates will then apparently attempt to connect the Mueller report to the various investigations being conducted by Democrats in the House. They hope this will turn independents and conservative-leaning Democrats against those probes and give Trump a political advantage. They think that voters who voted for him in the last election but have become disillusioned since then “may return to the fold if convinced he has been unfairly targeted” according to the AP.

The Evidence Will Prove Trump’s Crimes

Donald Trump and his allies are living in a fantasy world in which Trump never did anything wrong and he will be completely exonerated. But soon they will all have to face up to the reality of evidence that will be released by Bob Mueller and other federal prosecutors. And this evidence will show that Donald Trump is a criminal and an illegitimate president.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.