Would, say, the “Nunes Report” have convinced anyone who wasn’t already planning to vote for Trump that no collusion had taken place? Would a decision by the president to fire Mueller in 2017 — as he very nearly did — have allayed suspicions, much less put the matter behind us? From the beginning of the investigation, conservatives have been invested in a counter-narrative that is as flawed as the collusion narrative itself. Most absurd: The claim, repeated Thursday by Attorney General William Barr, that the White House fully cooperated with the investigation. For more on that, read the part of the report where then-White House counsel Don McGahn opted to quit instead of participating in the firing of Mueller.

Source: New York Times April 19, 2019 23:48 UTC