MSNBC host Rachel Maddow declared Wednesday night that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony was not a “great day” for conservative media and the Trump White House while urging Democratic lawmakers to continue their investigations of the president.
The perspective comes after many political observers on the right and left characterized Mueller’s testimony as “painful” and a “disaster” for Democrats after Mueller appeared on several occasions to not have a firm grasp of the contents of his report.{mosads}
“All in all, just look at today as a whole, it was a remarkable day, not just for this presidency but for the presidency,” Maddow told her audience on Wednesday night. “I know the Trump White House and conservative media are trying to, like, chin up tonight, make it seem like they had a great day today. They did not have a great day today.”
Maddow, the network’s top-rated host, also made the argument that Mueller’s performance “lights a fire under the need to speak to the people on his team who actually did the work” while also noting that Mueller “definitely seemed older than his 74 years” during the five-hour testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on Capitol Hill.
“Because of that performance from Mueller today, I think that lights a fire under the need to speak to the people on his team who actually did the work,” Maddow said. “I think one of the outcomes from today’s hearing is gonna be a renewed interest by Congress in hearing from the people who were on Mueller’s team and did the work beyond the sort of distant figurehead figure of Mueller himself, which was revealed today by what I think was his surprising effect.”
The perspective comes after many political observers on the right and left characterized Mueller’s testimony as “painful” and a “disaster” for Democrats after Mueller appeared on several occasions to not have a firm grasp of the contents of his report.{mosads}
“All in all, just look at today as a whole, it was a remarkable day, not just for this presidency but for the presidency,” Maddow told her audience on Wednesday night. “I know the Trump White House and conservative media are trying to, like, chin up tonight, make it seem like they had a great day today. They did not have a great day today.”
Maddow, the network’s top-rated host, also made the argument that Mueller’s performance “lights a fire under the need to speak to the people on his team who actually did the work” while also noting that Mueller “definitely seemed older than his 74 years” during the five-hour testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on Capitol Hill.
“Because of that performance from Mueller today, I think that lights a fire under the need to speak to the people on his team who actually did the work,” Maddow said. “I think one of the outcomes from today’s hearing is gonna be a renewed interest by Congress in hearing from the people who were on Mueller’s team and did the work beyond the sort of distant figurehead figure of Mueller himself, which was revealed today by what I think was his surprising effect.”
Several notable hosts and anchors on cable news had a different assessment, including NBC’s Chuck Todd, who said during the network’s special coverage on Wednesday afternoon that “on optics, this was a disaster” for Democrats.
“Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace also called the first hearing “a disaster for the Democrats” earlier Wednesday while ABC’s Terry Moran stated that “impeachment’s over” as a result of Mueller’s shaky performance.
Maddow has focused on Mueller’s investigation and Russia more than any other topic on her program since Trump took office in January 2017, while MSNBC mentioned Mueller almost every day in 2018, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight.com.