Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hi) tweeted out a sentiment rare among the Democratic primary candidates who have thus far declared themselves. Her tweet, in response to the Attorney General’s summary of the Mueller report, is bringing her a certain amount of social-media grief.
The Tweet:
On March 28, Gabbard tweeted, “Mueller reported Trump did not collude with Russia to influence our elections. Now we must put aside partisan interests, move forward, and work to unite our country to deal with the serious challenges we face.”
Some of the other candidates have tried to mention President Trump as little as possible. Others, notably Kirsten Gillibrand, have spoken harshly about Trump and are likely to endorse continued investigations of the Russia issue. Gabbard may now be unique in the field by virtue of actually having echoed one of the Trump administration’s key talking points: that the matter has been closed and it is time to move on.
Typical of the social media reaction was this tweet from a man identifying himself as a former CIA officer: “Goodness. Have you seen the report? Also, can you speculate on why Russian propaganda outlets continue to push your candidacy?”
The Thing to Know:
Gabbard has not seen the Mueller report. Only Attorney General Barr’s summary of the report has yet been made public, and those are just four pages regarding what is said to be a report of hundreds of pages. Those who believe that Trump’s critics should not be prepared to move on contend that nothing has been settled until the whole of the underlying Mueller report has been made public.
