Congressman Joe Kennedy III said former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony in front of Congress yesterday was devastating.
“You heard him say in excruciating detail that a foreign government attacked our democracy,” Kennedy said during an interview with Boston Public Radio. “That they did so to favor one presidential candidate — Donald Trump — that the president’s campaign operatives expected that assistance would help their campaign. That after that happened they tried to cover it up, and they lied about it.”
Despite widespread debate over how well Mueller performed and the effectiveness of his often laconic answers to questions, Kennedy said the discussion shouldn’t focus on Mueller.
“The main takeaways on this is that there’s substantial evidence to believe the president obstructed justice on multiple occasions. That’s exactly what the report says,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think the focus of this should be on ... the performance of the witness, it should be on what he said and what he found.”
Kennedy also spoke out against his congressional colleagues, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, who have admitted to not having read the entire report.
“If Senator Graham or anybody else doesn’t want to read that report then that’s 100 percent on them,” Kennedy said. “I would remind them of their oath of office to protect and preserve the Constitution of the United States and the fact that they’re making an affirmative choice not to do anything about it.”
Kennedy warned Congress not to lose sight of what he sees as the most pressing issue raised by Mueller’s report — preventing further foreign interference in U.S. elections.
“[The Russians] are going to continue to do this, and our country is not ready and prepared to defend against it,” Kennedy said. “The underlying facts that were in that report and that came out yesterday are devastating to this country, to this administration and to the president.”
