Denver broadcaster Aaron Harber has released TV interviews and other video footage of Robert Mueller, shot in 2006, 2012, and 2015 before Mueller was appointed as the Department of Justice’s Special Counsel to investigate possible Trump collusion with Russian in the 2016 election.
“We decided to create this series because Mueller is referenced in the news daily by a number of parties but he does not personally respond to statements made about him,” said Harber in a news release. “Because most Americans have not had the opportunity to see him in an unrehearsed setting…we have created this opportunity for citizens to hear Mueller firsthand discussing his career prior to serving as DOJ Special Counsel and make their own evaluations of him.”
When the 2015 footage was shot, Mueller was a private citizen. Watch it here:
This 2015 video was reviewed by Kent Harrington, a former senior CIA analyst, who wrote:
Harber’s long-form interview offered something else that also speaks to Mueller’s current role: a discussion of public service and its values that rarely if ever finds its way into the news broadcasts on Fox, NBC, CNN or any other national news. A decorated Marine officer, federal prosecutor, Justice Department official and FBI director, Mueller couldn’t be a better explainer. To his credit, Harber lets him reflect at length. In the end, Mueller puts the values proposition succinctly. “Public service gives you the chance to get up every morning … and get to do what’s right,” he says. “It’s a freedom that’s hard to come by.”
The White House would be well advised to read the line more than once.
As a counterpoint to the faux urgency, paid commentators and partisan pissing contests that pass as prime time news, Harber’s interview has done credit to journalism. He’s reminded us that even a three-year-old discussion of the issues can go to the heart of today’s news. Attacked by the president, pilloried by a Republican Party desperate to discredit his work and vilified by right wing media carrying its water, Mueller is a figure deserving of just such straight-forward reportorial attention. He’s not the only one, nor are his responsibilities the only subjects on which a dose of Aaron Harber’s style of journalism is long overdue.
Harber interviewed Mueller in the 2006 and 20012, when Mueller was director of the FBI.
Watch the 2006 and 2012 videos by clicking here and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
