Trump Camp Announces Plan To Upstage Mueller's Congressional Testimony with Rally
On the same day that former special counsel Robert Mueller will be testifying to two House committees about his investigation in the 2016 Trump campaign, President Donald Trump will be putting his 2020 re-election campaign into high gear with a “Keep America Great!” rally in Greenville, North Carolina.
“President Trump looks forward to returning to North Carolina and sharing the successes of the Trump presidency,” Michael Glassner, chief operating officer for the president’s re-election campaign, said in a statement, according to USA Today.
“North Carolina has one of the hottest economies in the nation, and that is directly attributable to the pro-growth, deregulatory policies of this administration,” Glassner said, according to The Washington Post.
Trump is eager to “talk directly to the military men and women who have made this country the greatest on earth,” Glassner said.
The day that Mueller publicly testifies, Trump will hold a #MAGA rally to counter the inevitably damaging narrative.
And the media will cover his rally. Because they just can’t help themselves. https://t.co/L8yNYIWBpA
— Nick Knudsen ?? (@DemWrite) July 3, 2019
The July 17 rally will provide a venue for Trump to publicly respond to anything said earlier in Washington when Mueller, who initially said in May that he had nothing further to say about his investigation, appears before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
Trump has used his Twitter account to attack Mueller’s upcoming testimony.
“Robert Mueller is being asked to testify yet again. He said he could only stick to the Report, & that is what he would and must do. After so much testimony & total transparency, this Witch Hunt must now end. No more Do Overs. No Collusion, No Obstruction. The Great Hoax is dead!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
Robert Mueller is being asked to testify yet again. He said he could only stick to the Report, & that is what he would and must do. After so much testimony & total transparency, this Witch Hunt must now end. No more Do Overs. No Collusion, No Obstruction. The Great Hoax is dead!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2019
Although Mueller’s report cleared the Trump campaign of any collusion with Russia, it did not definitively address the issue of whether Trump obstructed the probe, which Trump adamantly opposed and often publicly labeled a “witch hunt.”
As such, House Democrats have called for Mueller to appear in hopes of using his testimony to launch an obstruction of justice case against the president.
The House Intelligence Committee is chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff of California, while the Judiciary Committee is chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York.
The two Democrats have said Mueller’s appearance is what America wants.
“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack,” they said in a statement.
Republicans have said House Democrats’ effort to use Mueller to get at Trump will fail.
“The bottom line is, after all of your looking and all the time you had and all the money you spent, did Trump collude with the Russians? No. Do you stand by your report? Yes,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Fox News’ Sean Hannity shortly after Mueller’s appearance was first announced.
“It is ‘case-closed’ for me. They can do anything they want to in the House, and I think it will blow up in their face,” Graham added.
Trump’s North Carolina trip is not only important for him — Trump won the state by fewer than four percentage points in 2016 — but also for Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is facing a stiff re-election battle in 2020.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
