Does Mueller sound surprisingly tentative in his demeanor?

[Janit]

Does this perhaps explain his previous reluctance to testify? He is very strong in his prepared remarks, but much more hesitant under questioning. Also explains his having Aaron Zebley present to advise. I can already hear the alt-right youtube mashups of his verbal stumbles.

[rjmacs]

He's a lawyer above all. Every. Word. Matters.

He's also just not interested in speeding through this, and giving his interrogators more time to ask more questions. He's setting the pace, which is fair. So far, it sounds like the Democrats are being pretty disciplined in their questions. Seems like the GOP strategy is to pretend that Volume II of the report doesn't exist.

[SteveG]

He sounds mighty agreeable to Democrats reading statements that Trump's folks welcomed the Russians' help and yes, again, there in no way exonerates Trump from obstruction.

[SteveG]

Republicans on the attack against Mueller. Doesn't look good for them.

[Janit]

rjmacs wrote:
He's a lawyer above all. Every. Word. Matters.

He's also just not interested in speeding through this, and giving his interrogators more time to ask more questions. He's setting the pace, which is fair. So far, it sounds like the Democrats are being pretty disciplined in their questions. Seems like the GOP strategy is to pretend that Volume II of the report doesn't exist.

It seems that his style is slow and deliberate rather than quick-step repartee. It's just that I can imagine some of his verbal mannerisms strung together to suggest a faltering old man with diminished capacity. Sigh.

[SteveG]

The GOPers are blowing it.

[rjmacs]

They should be giving him the citation at the start of every question, so that his assistant can get it ready for him to review. Half of his questions are, "Can you repeat that?" or "Where does it say that?"

[deckeda]

Rep. Chabot, translated: "I'm going to ask you questions about people not in the report, so isn't that a one-sided report?"

WTF is that about?

[Janit]

rjmacs wrote:
They should be giving him the citation at the start of every question, so that his assistant can get it ready for him to review. Half of his questions are, "Can you repeat that?" or "Where does it say that?"

Absolutely. If they have any sense, they will adjust their questioning style accordingly. I doubt that will happen though.

[deckeda]

Dems are basically reading the report's highlights, with letting Mueller say "yes." Not a bad strategy for people who didn't read the report.

But they're going to have to get him to expand on a few things without speculating for there to be impact.