Rob Reiner: Trump will Use Mueller Report to ‘Drive Stake Through the Heart of Democracy’

Reiner
AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Hollywood director and left-wing activist Rob Reiner on Wednesday expressed concern over the Trump administration scheduled release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on now-debunk Trump-Russia collusion, suggesting it could spell the end for U.S. democracy.

“Tomorrow Donald Trump, with the aid of the Attorney General of the United States, will try to drive a stake through the heart of Democracy,” tweeted Rob Reiner.

The All in the Family star’s hyperbolic tweet follows an announcement by the Justice Department stating Attorney General William Barr will hold a 9:30 a.m. news conference accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation after Mueller’s appointment in May 2017.

It is unclear if Barr will speak before or after the report is released. The Justice Department also plans to provide a “limited number” of members of Congress and their staff access to a copy of the Mueller report with fewer redactions than the public copy, according to a court filing Wednesday.

The nearly 400-page report is expected to reveal what Mueller uncovered about ties between the Trump campaign and Russia that fell short of criminal conduct. It will also lay out the special counsel’s conclusions about formative episodes in Trump’s presidency, including his firing of FBI Director James Comey and his efforts to undermine the Russia investigation publicly and privately.

Rob Reiner, one of Hollywood’s most vocal Trump critics, has claimed for nearly two years that the special counsel would uncover proof of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Last month, the actor began criticizing Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, accusing the attorney general of attempting to “gas light” Americans with his summary of Mueller’s findings.

“Autocracy 101: Continually lie and tell you not to believe what you see with your own eyes,” he wrote in a tweet. “Trump, with the protection of cult GOP, FOX, & AG Barr, is in full gas light mode. We’ve seen Collusion & Obstruction in plain sight. Reality is reality. Truth is truth. Trust Your Eyes.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has claimed vindication after nearly two years of unrelenting investigation, seeing “complete and total exoneration” in the Justice Department’s account of Mueller’s findings.

“It was just announced there was no collusion with Russia,” the president said in brief remarks to reporters upon the summary’s release. “It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this.”

Overall, Mueller brought charges against 34 people — including six Trump aides and advisers — and revealed a sophisticated, wide-ranging Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Twenty-five of those charged were Russians accused either in the hacking of Democratic email accounts or of a hidden but powerful social media effort to spread disinformation online.

Five former Trump aides or advisers pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in Mueller’s investigation, including former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Stone is awaiting trial on charges including false statements and obstruction.

The AP contributed to his report.

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