“I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.” Remember that line? It was the last time we heard Bob Mueller speak. Since then, the one-hit wonder has given America the silent treatment. The lips have been zipped. He put a sock in it. Not a word has been breathed. The pie hole is officially closed for business. We usually associate keeping quiet as a tactic of the accused, or as Jimmy Conway explained to a young Henry Hill in Goodfellas: “You learned the two greatest thing in life, never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.” In this era of nonstop social media, we could probably all benefit from at least part of that advice. But as it is, silence is something you don’t hear much of these days. Yet, facing a constant smear campaign, Robert Mueller has refused to respond with anything other than indictments. Leonardo Da Vinci is credited with the line: “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” If he said that today, a thousand people on Twitter would call him an idiot. From the NYT: Under Fire, Robert Mueller Has a Novel P.R. Strategy: Silence.

+ “For two years, Americans have tried to absorb the details of the 2016 attack —hacked emails, social media fraud, suspected spies — and President Trump’s claims that it’s all a hoax.” NYT: The Plot to Subvert an Election. Unraveling the Russia Story So Far.