Following Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, CNN anchor Jake Tapper warned that associated and allies of President Trump will ignore the substance of the hearing and instead utilize “memes” and “edited videos” to portray Mueller as old and confused.
With Republicans and conservatives already rushing to social media and Fox News to frame the former FBI director’s stumbles during the GOP’s Q&A sessions as proof that Mueller looked “old” and “shaky,” Tapper noted during a break after the Judiciary Committee’s hearing that Trumpworld will continue to hammer home that point.
“We’ve been talking about the fact that Mueller very clearly said the report does not exonerate the president,” the CNN anchor said during a panel discussion. “He laid out a case that there was obstruction of justice. He couldn’t bring charges no matter what he would have wanted to do because of the OLC memo.”
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Despite Mueller laying out this case, per Tapper, there was “another reality out there.”
“This is the reality of the president’s fans,” Tapper stated. “And they deal in memes and they deal in edited videos and I think there’s a lot that happened today when it comes to Mueller refusing to answer questions or acting perhaps a little befuddled at times.”
He continued: “And look, again, all of us should look so good at 74. I mean, whatever. Nobody at 74 is the same person he could at 35. It seemed he couldn’t hear. I’m not making light of it or want to be ageist or disparaging. I think that those moments are going to be taken and will be used against Mueller to try to undercut him—to try to discredit him.”
After another panelist noted that they “already are,” Tapper added that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani had already been on Fox News and said that this was “not the Robert Mueller he knew.”
The CNN host concluded by pointing out that there was “another reality” that most people don’t have the time to sit and watch the entire hearing and will instead rely on news highlights showing Mueller “refusing to answer questions or seeming like he’s not even familiar with his own report.”
