President Trump seems to be enjoying his presidency, for a change. His Twitter feed betrays none of the nervousness of the tense weekend when Mueller submitted his findings to the attorney general, William Barr. Then, for an extraordinary and probably unprecedented 24 hours, Trump’s Twitter fell almost silent. Now he writes, joyously: ‘No Collusion – No Obstruction!’ Perhaps this is not just spin and Trump really believes he has been proven innocent and can cruise towards the Republican nomination in 2020 and on to a second term.
Or can he? Mueller simply set out ‘facts’ on both sides of the question of whether the President had obstructed justice – when he fired James Comey as director of the FBI, to deal with the ‘Russia thing’, and when he tweeted to attack Mueller’s prosecutors as ’13 angry Democrats’. (They’re now ‘18 angry Democrats’ in the latest tweets.)
Barr has decided the column of facts labelled ‘Prosecute’ is shorter, or less weighty, than the column labelled ‘Do not prosecute’ – but Congress may think differently.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in