Reactions To The Mueller Report And Testimony

On March 22, 2019, after a two-year investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his 400-plus page report on potential Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and Donald Trump's involvement. Two days later, Attorney General William Barr released a summary to the public (via USA Today), saying: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

The full, yet redacted, report was released to the public in April 2019, and the following month, Mueller issued a lengthy statement on his findings (via Vox), claiming that "if we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so." The legendary prosecutor also shut down calls for him to testify before Congress. "Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report," he said, in part. "It contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. And the report is my testimony." 

However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued subpoenas to Mueller, compelling him to testify on July 24, 2019. From Monica Lewinsky and Chelsea Handler to Stephen Colbert and Jonathan Van Ness, here are some reactions from famous faces to Mueller's report and testimony.

Misery and A Few Good Men director Rob Reiner had some strong words after watching and reacting to Robert Mueller's testimony before Congress. "If we don't start Impeachment proceedings against this lawless President, then what we fought for 243 yrs. ago will have been for nothing. We will once again be relegating power to a King who is above the law. This can't be about politics. It's about the survival of Democracy," he tweeted.

Much was made about Robert Mueller's demeanor during his testimony. Former Obama White House strategist David Axelrod tweeted that Mueller didn't "appear as sharp" as he had in the past. Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor who worked under Mueller in the U.S. attorney's office, tweeted that Mueller was "struggling" and believed it was due to a "health issue."

However, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore dropped all subtlety with his critique of Mueller. "A frail old man, unable to remember things, stumbling, refusing to answer basic questions ... I said it in 2017 and Mueller confirmed it today — All you pundits and moderates and lame Dems who told the public to put their faith in the esteemed Robert Mueller — just STFU from now on," he tweeted. Yikes.

The day that Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report, comedian Chelsea Handler brought her patented inappropriate humor to the situation. "If I'm being completely honest, I am very sexually attracted to Robert Mueller. I know it's not meant to be, but that doesn't mean I won't hang a poster of him above my bed," she tweeted.

Two days later, Handler updated her fans after Attorney General William Barr summarized the report. "I will admit my feelings for Mueller are conflicted now and my sexual attraction to him is in peril, but I still believe there is a lot more to come, and we must all march in the streets if we don't see that report," she tweeted.

Regular CNN and The View contributor Ana Navarro-Cárdenas defended Robert Mueller's reputation the day before his testimony. "Dear Trumpublicans, if you're planning on going Ninja Warrior on Robert Mueller, remember, Mueller served our country. He was awarded a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, a Navy Commendation Medal. You are serving a man who dodged the draft and was awarded bankruptcies. Sleep well," she tweeted.

During Mueller's testimony, Navarro-Cárdenas continued to sing Mueller's praises. "You can disagree with Mueller. You can take issue with his investigation & report. What you can't take issue with is that he's a patriotic American who has stepped up to serve his country time and again. Disrespecting the man, berating him, not letting him answer, is plain wrong," she tweeted.

British comedian Stephen Fry summed up his reaction to Robert Mueller's findings like this: "The #MuellerReport perfectly crystallises our age. Those who dislike Trump are leafing through looking for only that which incriminates, those who like him search only for what exculpates and exonerates. Each frantically ignoring what they don't want to see. I'm guilty too," he tweeted. "I'm not being "non-partisan", BTW — lord knows, what I think of the corrupt Mobster-in-Chief ought to be obvious. I was just admitting that I started to read the report, or bits filleted from it, with an eye only to one aspect, fully aware that his defenders were doing the same," he said.

The Department of Justice released a redacted version of the Mueller report on April 18, 2019, but comedian and talk show host Conan O'Brien had a major concern with the timing. "I worry that the release of The Mueller Report is going to overshadow the fact that it's Melissa Joan Hart's birthday. #HappyBirthdayMelissaJoanHart," Coco tweeted.

Although it was massively hyped, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony wasn't exactly a ratings hit. The Late Show's Stephen Colbert doesn't care about that and says you shouldn't either. "I don't want a government that cares about ratings — because we already have that with Donald Trump," he said. "Robert Mueller didn't come to Congress to entertain us. He's like a doctor reminding us that the test came back positive and out country has a terminal illness, and we're like, 'Yeah, you told us about it, like, three months ago, doc. [Yawn].'"

Comedian and Deadpool 2 star Rob Delaney tweeted this after the redacted Mueller report was made public: "I'm not counting on even a Dem led House to do what's right, so I'd never thought the Mueller report would solve all our problems (We will; through direct action, unions, strikes, protests, primarying, etc) but holy s**t it is damning & the president is a garden variety criminal."

Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness had some harsh words for Attorney General William Barr as he reacted to the Congressional testimony. "Best performance from a puppet goes to #WilliamBarr — There are campaign finance law & financial corruption illegalities that disqualify Trump from office, not to mention the emoluments clause he is knowingly currently violating. All outside of Mueller's scope to investigate," he tweeted.

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did Sarah Huckabee Sanders things following Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony. "Didn't take long for Mueller to once again vindicate President @realDonaldTrump. No collusion. No obstruction. And now Mueller all but admits it was all along a total witch hunt," she tweeted.

No reaction piece about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's testimony would be complete without including President Donald Trump's two cents about the news. Hours before Mueller sat down before Congress, the president fired off a tweetstorm. "It was NEVER agreed that Robert Mueller could use one of his many Democrat Never Trumper lawyers to sit next to him and help him with his answers. This was specifically NOT agreed to, and I would NEVER have agreed to it. The Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history, by far!" he tweeted.

"So Democrats and others can illegally fabricate a crime, try pinning it on a very innocent President, and when he fights back against this illegal and treasonous attack on our Country, they call It Obstruction? Wrong! Why didn't Robert Mueller investigate the investigators?" Trump continued. "Why didn't Robert Mueller & his band of 18 Angry Democrats spend any time investigating Crooked Hillary Clinton, Lyin' & Leakin' James Comey, Lisa Page and her Psycho lover, Peter S, Andy McCabe, the beautiful Ohr family, Fusion GPS, and many more, including HIMSELF & Andrew W?" he added. In closing, Trump tweeted what has become his catchphrase: "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!"

After Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report, Attorney General William Barr issued a four-page summary that did not conclude if President Trump had committed any crimes. While Democrats and some members of the public demanded the full report be made available, University of California, Berkeley Law professor Orin Kerr compared it to the last time a special counsel was appointed to investigate a sitting president. "Imagine if the Starr Report had been provided only to President Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno, who then read it privately and published a 4-page letter based on her private reading stating her conclusion that President Clinton committed no crimes," he tweeted. 

Refresher: The Starr report dealt with President Bill Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and so Lewinsky took it upon herself to respond to Professor Kerr's hypothetical question. "If. f***ing. only," she tweeted.