The bloated and destructive Mueller investigation is finally over. Like inspecting property damage after a hurricane, we have had to wait until after this political firestorm is over to see the full extent of Mueller’s destruction. Mueller’s team burned through at least $25 million in taxpayer dollars, but far greater costs were imposed on Mueller’s innocent victims and the American people.
In his four-page letter to Congress, Attorney General Bill Barr reported that the Special Counsel and his team “issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, and obtained more than 230 orders for communication records.” They executed “almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses.” Take note, America. Your tax dollars were used to interview five hundred so-called “witnesses” to a crime that never took place.
But the targets of Mueller’s subpoenas, the victims of his search warrants, and other innocent individuals were compelled to waste enormous time and money in responding to the frightful demands by the out-of-control investigation. Each of Mueller’s subpoenas probably cost an average of $25,000 to comply with. The D.C. rates for attorneys’ fees are among the highest in the country, and this field of law is particularly specialized. So the wasteful expense caused by Mueller’s subpoenas alone racked up $70 million in costs, but even that is just the tip of the iceberg. Many of the “witnesses” pursued by Mueller necessarily hired attorneys for themselves, which easily incurred more than $100,000 in fees apiece.
On top of these massive costs is the time lost by the American public and President Trump. Overzealous prosecutions are a distraction, and it is to Trump’s credit that he has not been completely distracted by this. Trump could have accomplished even more in his first two years in office without the constant disruption caused by this Grand Inquisition by the Left. At one point Trump spent several days answering questions for Mueller despite no evidence for asking them. Now it is time to lay the Russian collusion myth to rest once and for all and look ahead to what we can do to further the principles Trump has been championing all along.
