Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent an unmistakable message Tuesday that just like President Donald Trump, he thinks it is time to move on from the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
« Two years of exhaustive investigation and nothing to establish the fanciful conspiracy theory that Democratic politicians and TV talking heads had treated like a foregone conclusion, » McConnell said. « This ought to be good news for everyone but my Democratic colleagues seem to be publicly working through the five stages of grief. »
An aide to McConnell would not explain why McConnell’s address, which was carefully crafted with his staff over the last few days, did not include any mention of the second volume of Mueller’s report.
When asked by CNN at a news conference later Tuesday why he did not mention obstruction, McConnell didn’t answer directly, instead saying that « it is over » and attacking Democrats for trying to keep the issue alive.
The omission was noted in a statement by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, both Democrats.
« Senator McConnell’s declaration of ‘case closed’ is a stunning act of political cynicism and a brazen violation of the oath we all take, » they said. « The Special Counsel report laid out eleven instances of the President’s obstruction and left a raft of unanswered questions about coordination between the President’s campaign and Russia. »
At his own news conference later Tuesday, Schumer called McConnell’s comments « disgraceful. »
« That is not doing what America needs, » Schumer said.
