Democrats planning....

Democrats planning Mueller ‘war room,’ social media blitz

By KYLE CHENEY

House Democrats are preparing an all-out messaging blitz over the next three days to refocus Americans' attention on special counsel Robert Mueller's report, hoping to channel the intense focus on Mueller's congressional testimony Wednesday into a public outcry against President Donald Trump, as well as the prospect of future foreign interference in U.S. elections.

Democratic leadership aides say their entire caucus will be involved in the effort, blasting out messages on social media beginning Tuesday morning under the hashtag #RetweetTheReport, which they'll use to elevate excerpts from Mueller's findings that present vivid details of the Trump 2016 campaign's contacts with Russia, as well as Trump's efforts to derail Mueller's investigation.

The excerpts will include a dozen quotes from Mueller's first volume — on Russian election interference and foreign contacts with the Trump campaign —as well as an additional 11 from the second volume, which detailed 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice by Trump.

The social media effort will be bolstered by a Democratic "war room" that plans to be active during Mueller's testimony, clipping excerpts from his testimony to blast out widely and combating Republicans who will likely have their own messaging operation.

Over the next few days, Democrats also intend to reinforce the need for continued investigation of Trump's posture toward Russia. Leadership aides described Mueller's focus as "narrow" and noted that he didn't explore a slew of events that Democrats are now probing — from Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki to reports that he passed along classified secrets to Russians in the Oval Office a day after he fired FBI Director James Comey. There are also lawsuits to access Trump's financial records to determine whether he has foreign entanglements.

For weeks, Democrats have painted Mueller's public hearings before the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees as a chance to bring his dense, 448-page report "to life" for Americans, who largely haven't read the report. In addition, lawmakers who support impeachment proceedings against Trump have been counting on Mueller's appearance to reinvigorate their effort and help add to the 90-plus Democrats who have already joined their push. They expect a new wave of support for impeachment to materialize after Mueller speaks, even though Speaker Nancy Pelosi has consistently rejected their efforts as premature.

Democratic leaders, with input from the investigating committees, are distributing a five-page set of talking points to their colleagues in which they attempt to distill Mueller's findings into pithy, digestible talking points, drawn from Mueller's own language.

"The Trump campaign welcomed the release of information illegally obtained by Russian hacking efforts, and President Trump personally received advance notice regarding the release of damaging information," reads one of the points.

The effort will also include a heavy focus on the Russian attack itself, with Democrats arguing that Americans of all political parties should be focused on efforts to prevent a foreign power from interfering in democratic elections.

"We hope that him coming will heighten the sense of urgency to have a whole of government response to what he uncovered about the 2016 election," said one Democratic leadership aide.

Democrats will key off Mueller's testimony to highlight election reforms they have already passed, as well as plug new ones they say they'll need to craft to fix loopholes in campaign finance law and foreign agent law that Russians were able to exploit. Those polices could include requiring campaign officials to proactively report any efforts by a foreign agent to offer election assistance and even revisiting the law establishing a special counsel.