Since my days in the administration of George W. Bush, I have been an outspoken admirer of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who then served with the highest distinction as director of the FBI.  And despite my continuing status as an unwavering anti-Trump columnist, my admiration of Bob Mueller continues.

Mueller is a man of the highest integrity and competence.  Indeed, he has proven to be the ideal appointee to have acted as Special Counsel regarding the Trump/ Russia probe.

The Mueller probe concluded this weekend with the issuance of his report, which found that President Donald Trump did not commit any crime relating to collusion with Russia. That is good news and a relief to all Americans.

On the issue of obstruction of justice, Mueller determined that he could neither find that Trump committed a crime nor exonerate him. It was obvious that Mueller intended to refer this issue and underlying facts to the House of Representatives for them to determine whether Trump’s actions in this regard constituted the impeachable offense of obstruction of justice.

Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made a superseding finding, however, that that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation was not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. The Mueller probe was conducted under the Special Counsel statute, under which Barr had such a superseding power as Attorney General, and not under the former Independent Counsel statute, which would not have given Barr this power. 

While Barr’s action was legal, it has failed the “smell test” of propriety in the view of many legal experts.  The former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara most accurately described this situation as follows:

“So he (Mueller)  punts to Congress, and then Bill Barr runs on the field, takes the ball and runs it in for a touchdown for the president.”

This action on the part of Barr and Rosenstein is troubling to Democratic members of the House of Representatives.  They are considering hearings on this matter and on other allegations related to Trump and Russia. 

In my view, however, the House should avoid extended hearings on the Trump/Russia controversy.   The Trump narrative would be that such investigations, following the completion of the Mueller probe, would constitute a “witch hunt.”   

Trump even made this “witch hunt” claim against Republican Robert Mueller himself.  The results of the probe prove Trump to be a liar. 

 Current polls show Trump’s election prospects to be almost prohibitively negative.  He can only be elected if his “witch hunt” narrative gains credibility.

Further action by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee regarding the Mueller probe should be limited to efforts to obtain the public release of the Mueller report.  The public has the right to read the report to ascertain whether actions committed by members of the Trump campaign or Trump administration were unethical or improper, if not criminal. 

I am not saying that the Democratic members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, led by Congressman Jerry Nadler, should be intimidated from performing their traditional oversight functions by Trump’s spurious “witch hunt” claims.  In the case of the Russia issue, the House must continue its focus on the counter-intelligence aspects of federal investigations regarding Russia.  Any further investigations regarding Russia and Trump per se, however, run a significant risk of being viewed by the electorate as an overreach. 

Meanwhile, there are ongoing federal and state investigations regarding Donald Trump and the Trump organization.  Such probes and court proceedings are unaffected by the outcome of the Mueller probe.  They will and should continue.  There is no need for any Democratic Congressional or political involvement with these cases; in fact, there should NOT be. 

Of all these investigations, the most legally dangerous for Donald Trump is the ongoing investigation of the Trump Organization by the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.  He has already been implicitly named as an unindicted coconspirator in the Michael Cohen election law felony violation case.  

I have previously predicted that Trump is likely to leave the White House prior to January 1, 2020 due to the investigations in the Southern District, particularly if he is faced with a RICO complaint that could result in a substantial forfeiture of his assets.  There is nothing in the results of the Mueller probe that in any way affects my prediction. 

The Democrats, however, should not rely on scandal to remove Trump from office.  Their focus should be to vanquish him in the 2020 election.  And the key to that is to maintain the compelling Trump misgovernance message of current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that resulted in a total repudiation of him in the midterm blue tsunami Congressional elections of 2018. 

This was a four-component message that did not even reference the Trump scandals.  The components were 1) the Republican total failure on the healthcare issue, particularly their efforts to deprive millions of Americans of existing benefits by attempting to repeal ObamaCare; 2) the Trump denial of climate change science in the face of climate caused disasters; 3) the disaster of the Trump tax cuts, which had no job creation benefits nor any resulting improvement in the financial status of working class Americans; and 4) Trump’s inhumane immigration policies, resulting in cruelty to immigrant political refugee children at the Mexican border. 

Since the midterm election, Trump misgovernance has worsened.  In the immediate aftermath of the Mueller Report, he is seeking judicial abolition of ObamaCare, which will result in the elimination of health care and economic impoverishment for millions of Americans.  Both the federal budgetary deficit and the balance-of payments deficit have increased to an alarming degree.  We are now faced with a trade war with China caused by Trump economic illiteracy, namely, the insanity of his tariff policies.  His policy of appeasement of authoritarian dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin continues.  And due to the inverted bond yield curve, we are faced with the likelihood of a recession in 2020. 

The Pelosi message does not even include a focus on Trump’s despicable character, including his xenophobia, bigotry, misogyny, and the embrace of white nationalism.  It doesn’t have to – the electorate is well aware of Trump’s despicable character and his manifest unfitness for the presidency. 

There is no need for Democratic panic in the wake of the Mueller report.  Nancy Pelosi is the most effective Democratic Congressional leader since Lyndon Johnson.  If the Democratic Party maintains the Pelosi message of Trump misgovernance, which won them the national landslide victory and repudiation of Trump in 2018, rather than Trump scandal, the national catastrophe of a Trump reelection will be averted.  

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission under former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman.