Daily Inspiration Quote by Robert Luskin

Silence, here, is doing the loudest work. “At the request of the special counsel” is a lawyerly throat-clear that shifts agency away from the witness and onto the prosecutor, as if restraint is not strategy but etiquette. It frames non-disclosure as compliance with a process rather than fear of exposure. That first clause is also a signal to multiple audiences at once: investigators hear “we’re cooperating,” the public hears “we’re respecting the rules,” and opponents hear “you’re not getting a headline today.”

Then comes the neatest piece of insulation: “will not discuss the substance.” Not the fact of testifying, not the general posture, not the vibe, not the “I cleared everything up.” Only the “substance” is off-limits, which leaves a wide, carefully cultivated perimeter for political messaging. Lawyers love this move because it preserves optionality: if later leaks appear, you can still claim you didn’t “discuss” them; if narratives shift, you can suggest you stayed above the fray.

The name attached to the sentence matters as much as its grammar. Robert Luskin isn’t performing moral seriousness; he’s performing damage control, the calm of counsel standing between a combustible client and the news cycle. In the era of special counsels, the public has learned to treat “can’t comment” as its own kind of comment. The subtext is: there is risk here, enough risk that disciplined silence is the only safe form of speech.