GOP congressman whines it’s ‘dangerous’ to investigate Trump’s crimes

This just might be the most hypocritical, bad-faith letter a member of Congress has ever sent.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, accused House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) of making “dangerous” and “deliberate misrepresentations” of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report — and even accused Nadler of reaching conclusions about the report without reading it.

“I urge you to be accurate in your claims before the American public and encourage you to take the Attorney General up on his offer to read the full report,” Collins wrote.

In fact, however, Attorney General William Barr’s “offer” is to only allow a few members of Congress to see only a “less redacted” version of the report — not the “full report,” as Collins claimed. Nadler has rejected that offer.

But even the redacted version of the Mueller report outlines numerous instances in which Trump attempted to obstruct justice — and Nadler has accurately described those instances.

Collins, on the other hand, came to his own conclusions on the report before it was even released. He took at face value a very brief summary of the report written by Attorney General William Barr — which we now know was totally inaccurate — and falsely declared Trump to be exonerated.

“This president was shown not to be colluding, was shown not to be obstructing,” Collins inaccurately stated on Fox News in March, after Barr released his now-debunked summary letter.

Collins’ letter, which comes as Trump’s impeachment looks more and more likely thanks to Mueller’s findings, also tries to argue that Mueller didn’t really set up legal arguments for Congress to impeach the president.

In fact, however, Mueller did the exact opposite: Mueller said he could not make a decision to prosecute Trump, and that it’s up to Congress to “protect its own legislative functions against corrupt efforts designed to impede legitimate fact-gathering and lawmaking efforts.”

Nadler has accurately described those arguments, too. And for that, his Republican colleague on the House Judiciary Committee is effectively calling him a liar.

House Democrats have asked Mueller himself to testify to Congress before the end of May. So far, it’s unclear whether he’ll agree, and when his testimony may occur.

But Collins’ disingenuous attempt to speak for Mueller and lie about his report is just another reason why Mueller’s testimony is so necessary.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.