Americans Aren’t Buying Trump’s Claims of Exoneration

For the past five days Donald Trump has continually claimed that he has been “totally exonerated” by Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

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But a new poll released Friday shows that the majority of Americans are skeptical and are not buying Trump’s claims of exoneration.

The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that just 36 percent of Americans think that Barr’s letter has completely cleared Trump of any wrongdoing. On the other hand, 56 percent of American voters believe there are still significant questions that exist about the Trump campaign’s activities during the 2016 presidential election.

The majority of voters also said they believe Mueller had conducted a fair investigation. But they also believe that a four-page summary of Mueller’s 300 page report is not enough to end the debate over coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Only 18 Percent of American Voters Think Barr’s Summary Is Sufficient

In a stunning blow to Republican efforts to cover up the Mueller report, just 18 percent of survey respondents said they are of the opinion that Bill Barr’s four-page summary of the Mueller report was sufficient,

On the other hand, fully three-fourths of poll participants — 75 percent — said they want the complete Mueller report made public.

“People clearly want to see more about the report,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. “They want it released publicly, are eager to see the principals — Mueller and Barr — testify, because they want to see how the sausage was made. They want to see how we got to this point.”

One unanswered question is how far Democrats should go in investigating him going forward. There seems to be a push now to not only subpoena Mueller’s report, but also to subpoena Bob Mueller himself to come before a House committee to testify about what is in his report.

This would allow House Democrats to question him on his underlying evidence also, which would go a long way to disclosing exactly what the Trump campaign did during the 2016 campaign.

The American People Want Answers

As this poll points out, the vast majority of Americans are not satisfied with the Barr summary, and they believe that Donald Trump has NOT been cleared of any wrongdoing.

If Trump, Barr and other Republicans continue to withhold the evidence from Congress and the American people they will find that their punishment will come in next year’s elections when they are thrown out of office.

The American people want answers, and if they don’t get them there will be another Big Blue Wave in 2020, and it will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.

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.