The Mueller Report, Immigration & Being a Faithful Witness

A witness is someone who has seen an event or change and has personal experience because of it. The legal term includes someone who attests, most often in a court of law, to an event.

The Bible has a lot to say about being a faithful witness. In fact, one of the Ten Commandments deals with the subject of bearing false witness, or lying. Those of the Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim faith are also encouraged to be truthful. 

Christians living in the West recently celebrated Easter. The gospel accounts record how the trial of Jesus was extralegal and involved individuals giving false testimony. 

It's very easy for anyone reading those gospel accounts to point the finger and accuse these individuals of cowardice.

But, remembering the definition of a witness, what sort of witnessing are we called to in 2019?

Right now, there are about 800,000 refugees at or near the border we share with Mexico who are waiting for the US legal system to process their cases. The current administration in the White House has adopted a hard-line approach, doing everything they can to delay the processing of these individuals.

The hope was that such an approach, including falsely accusing refugees of being criminals bent on overrunning the US, would serve as a deterrent to stop them from seeking asylum. It hasn't worked. In fact, during the current administration's time in the White House, the number of refugees seeking asylum has increased by fifty percent.

At one point, the current president tried to obtain over $5 billion to build sections of the wall between Mexico and the US, while claiming there was "a national emergency" on the border.

While he physically went to the border we share with Mexico, he was not a faithful witness. Neither are the members of his administration, including Stephen Miller, the chief architect of this bizarre immigration policy.

Robert Mueller/Wall Street Journal

Neither is the current vice-president, who seems to silently give his consent, except when he opens his mouth to add additional false statements, becoming complicit with the current president's line of giving false testimony.

Last week Special Counsel Robert Muller released the report of his investigation into the president's actions in regards to collusion and obstruction of justice charges. Before releasing the redacted report to the public, the current attorney general held a press conference in which he stated that the report found there was no collusion and declared the current president innocent of all charges. 

The current attorney general was not being a faithful witness.

The Associated Press has written a handy synopsis of the lies that have been told by these unfaithful witnesses about the Mueller Report.

Perhaps the biggest lie being peddled by the president, vice president and almost all of his senior advisors, is that the current president has been declared innocent. In fact, the Mueller Report concluded: "While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

The Mueller Report is actually a guide to further prosecution.

Attorney General William Barr

To sum up, the current administration in Washington seems determined to set a record in spreading lies. 

PolitiFact, an organization that has won a Pulitzer Prize, is keeping a tally of the current president's track record in truth-telling; or more precisely, the lack of it. So far, PolitiFact has found only four percent of the president's statements as being true. Another eleven percent are mostly true. The other eight-five percent of his statements have been declared half-truths, mostly false, or "pants on fire" (at fifteen percent). 

It doesn't take a genius to quickly determine that the current president is not a faithful witness.

What can we do to be a faithful witness? We can call our Congressional representatives and ask them their position on immigration, funding for a border wall, and the Mueller Report. Especially if they happen to be Republican, let them know that you're determined to elect and hold accountable faithful witnesses in Washington. 

The Congressional Switchboard at our nation's capitol is: Senate: 202.224.3121; House of Representatives 202.225.3121.

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