Mixed feelings arise as Russiagate investigation wraps up

Source
China Military Online
Editor
Xu Yi
Time
2019-03-29 16:32:33

By Yang Chun

After 675 days, the Russiagate investigation involving more than 2,800 court summons, over 500 search warrants, and more than 500 witnesses finally came to an end. The investigation report by the US special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Donald Trump and his campaign team did not collude with Russia to influence the 2016 US presidential election, and there was insufficient evidence to show that Trump obstructed justice. But it is clear that the impact of the investigation in the real world and related chain reaction did not end.

Mixed feelings

The responses in the US come in sharp contrast. The joy of the Trump team is beyond words. Trump tweeted at first, “No collusion, no obstruction, complete and total exoneration. Keep America great!”Then he told reporters, “There was no collusion with Russia. There was no obstruction and none whatsoever. And it was a complete and total exoneration. It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said on Twitter that the special counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction of justice. Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of President Donald Trump, said that the Russiagate investigation was a waste of resources and was one of the biggest pranks in American history. The initiator of the incident must be responsible for this.

Because the investigation helped Trump a lot before the 2020 election, the New York Times reported that Muller’s report disappointed some Democrats who could no longer attack Trump by saying his presidency is “illegal.”At present, most Democratic presidential candidates ask US Attorney General William Barr to publish the full report, but some senior Democrats urge them to focus on Trump’s unfulfilled campaign promises rather than on this report, and to emphasize the Democratic Party’s different policies in immigration, taxation and health care.

Russia also expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation report. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that in addition to acknowledging there was no such thing as collusion, there was nothing new in Muller’s report. The accusation of Russian intervention in the US election was not established from beginning to end. Peskov also said, “It is hard to search for a black cat in a dark room, particularly if it is not there.”

The website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also published a comment that the US spent a lot of time, manpower and financial resources on the Russiagate investigation and accused Russian citizens of participating in this fictional scandal. This is a shame of the US judicial system. Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that American journalist Fareed Zakaria (who claimed that Trump colluded with Russian in 2017) should apologize to Russian, American and Trump himself.

New round of wrestling unveils

As for the results of the Russiagate investigation, Reuters commented that it marks a major political victory for Trump and also a milestone in his presidency. Some foreign media also hold the same view, saying that Trump can get out unhurt this time. However, some American media are not optimistic about this. They believe that Trump is not resting on his feet even though the investigation ended.

On the one hand, the Democratic Party will not stop here. The investigation findings published by Barr have triggered strong dissatisfaction and “another interpretation” by the Democratic Party. The Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement saying that the report did not rule out serious allegations of obstruction of justice against Trump, which means that complete report and supporting documents should be made public immediately. The joint statement also said that given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the special counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report. The Washington Post said that the report contains too many “ammunition”, which will deepen the pain and hostility and a new round of wrestling between the two parties will kick off.

Others believe that the Democratic Party will not continue to stick to the Russiagate incident. After all, the investigation has confirmed that Trump did not collude with Russia. If the Democratic Party persists, it will destroy its image. Therefore, the Democrats should seize other investigations to pose obstacles to Trump, including whether there is justice obstruction, power abuse or tax issues.

On the other hand, the US media may continue to dig deep into Trump’s “criminal evidences”. Some media have played a role in fueling the Russiagate investigation, and repeatedly released evidences of Trump’s “collusion” with Russia. Donald Trump Jr. also named the CNN and other media, demanding that “the Pulitzer Prizes for those media will be replaced by fake news awards” after the investigation results were released. It can be predicted that the gap between Trump and his team and some media will not disappear, and instead, it may be further intensified.

(The original article was published on China’s Defense Newspaper, an official newspaper belongs to the Chinese PLA News Media Center, on March 29, 2019. It was edited and translated into English by China Military Online)

 

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