The Atlantic

Robert Mueller Wishes You’d Read His Report

The special counsel is a man out of time, a by-the-book throwback who expects Americans to absorb carefully worded documents.
Source: Jim Bourg / Reuters

Special Counsel Robert Mueller wishes that you’d read his report. He’s not angry; he’s just disappointed.

When the Department of Justice announced Mueller’s press conference Wednesday morning, the media exploded in a frenzy of wild speculation. What new evidence might he reveal? Would he endorse impeachment? Would he complain about the administration’s response to his report? No, he would not. Nobody who has paid attention to Mueller’s pattern of behavior expected him to do anything of the sort. Instead, Mueller assumed the pained tones of a teacher. The answers to all of our questions, he intoned repeatedly, are in his report.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic3 min read
They Rode the Rails, Made Friends, and Fell Out of Love With America
The open road is the great American literary device. Whether the example is Jack Kerouac or Tracy Chapman, the national canon is full of travel tales that observe America’s idiosyncrasies and inequalities, its dark corners and lost wanderers, but ult
The Atlantic8 min readAmerican Government
The Most Consequential Recent First Lady
This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. The most consequential first lady of modern times was Melania Trump. I know, I know. We are supposed to believe it was Hillary Clinton, with her unbaked cookies
The Atlantic4 min read
Hayao Miyazaki’s Anti-war Fantasia
Once, in a windowless conference room, I got into an argument with a minor Japanese-government official about Hayao Miyazaki. This was in 2017, three years after the director had announced his latest retirement from filmmaking. His final project was

Related Books & Audiobooks