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Mueller contradicts Trump's false claim he was 'totally exonerated' by report Mueller insists in testimony Trump was not exonerated by his report
(about 2 hours later)
The former US special counsel Robert Mueller has said Donald Trump was not exonerated by Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and the Trump campaign, and that the president could be charged with crimes after leaving office. The former US special counsel Robert Mueller insisted on Wednesday that Donald Trump was not exonerated by his report into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, but offered little new ammunition to boost the case for the president’s impeachment.
Minutes into a three and a half-hour hearing at Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Mueller testified that the special counsel report did not provide the president with total exoneration, contrary to Trump’s claims. Testifying at the first of two hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Mueller confirmed his finding that Russia launched a “sweeping and systematic” attack on America’s democracy and that Trump engaged in 10 instances of obstruction of justice.
Robert Mueller: who is the Trump-Russia investigation's special counsel? Mueller testimony: key takeaways on the Trump-Russia investigation
“It is not what the report said,” Mueller said. “The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed.” Asked by House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler if his report exonerates Trump – as the president has frequently claimed – Mueller answered: “No … It is not what the report said.”
Mueller – a reluctant witness – is testifying at a pair of televised hearings that carry high stakes for Trump and the Democrats, who are split between beginning impeachment proceedings against him or moving the conversation onto the 2020 election. The second will begin this afternoon. The report did not reach a conclusion on obstruction of justice, he added, and “the president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed”.
Mueller, whose inquiry detailed extensive contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia at a time when Moscow was interfering in the 2016 election with hacking and propaganda, appeared first before the House judiciary committee. In the latest TV set piece of the Trump presidency, and the latest sign of growing partisanship in Washington, Democrats repeatedly pressed the point that no one is above the law while Republicans attacked Mueller’s credibility and accused his team of political bias.
When questioned by the Republican congressman Ken Buck, Mueller affirmed that a president can be charged with crimes after leaving office. Mueller was questioned why he did not bring criminal charges against the president. The congressman Ted Lieu of Hawaii asked: “‘The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?” Mueller replied: “That is correct.”
Buck asked: “You believe that he committed … you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?” It was a telling moment, but later on Wednesday, Mueller said he wished to correct the record, backing away from the notion that the OLC advice was necessarily the only reason he did not indict Trump. Even so, his assertion directly contradicts a past claim by Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, who had argued the OLC guidelines played no part in Mueller’s thinking.
Mueller confirmed that the president refused to be interviewed by Mueller and his team, despite more than a year of requests – contrary to Trump’s claims. Mueller also acknowledged that a president can be prosecuted after he leaves office.
The Republican congressman Ken Buck asked: “You believe that he committed … you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?”
In a characteristic one-word answer, Mueller replied: “Yes.”In a characteristic one-word answer, Mueller replied: “Yes.”
Earlier in his testimony, Mueller confirmed that the president refused to be interviewed by Mueller and his team, despite more than a year of requests – contrary to Trump’s claims. Democrats sought to highlight links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The congresswoman Zoe Lofgren asked: “Did your investigation find that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from one of the candidates winning?” Mueller replied: “Yes.”
Lines of questioning were largely split along party lines, with Democrats using their time to confirm some of the most damning portions of Mueller’s report, and Republicans questioning the scope of Mueller’s investigation and whether it followed justice department regulations. Robert Mueller: who is the Trump-Russia investigation's special counsel?
Opening his testimony, Mueller said his “extensive investigation” was conducted over two years. “Given my role as a prosecutor, there are reasons why my testimony will be limited,” he said. “The report is my testimony, and I will stay within that text.” Lofgren followed up: “And which candidate would that be?” Mueller answered: “Well, it would be Trump. The president.”
Muller repeatedly said “I can’t get into that” during the hearing when asked to go beyond the report. In two hours of testimony, Mueller deflected questions 60 times, according to a count by NBC News. Questioned by the congresswoman Val Demings, Mueller said he would “generally agree” that his investigation was “impeded” by lying by Trump campaign and White House officials. He added: “I think there are probably a spectrum of witnesses in terms of those who are not telling the full truth or those who are outright liars.”
The Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, a close ally of Trump, pushed Mueller on the origins of the investigation, though Mueller said he would not speak about that. Mueller spent 22 months investigating Russian interference and published his redacted report in April.
“I’m not sure I agree with your characterizations,” the mild-mannered Mueller told Jordan as he lambasted the investigation. He made clear in a press conference in late May that, if required to testify on Capitol Hill, he would not go beyond the content of his 448-page report and he was as good as his word.
Trump said on Tuesday he did not plan to watch Mueller’s testimony. But in a short break in proceedings, he tweeted, quoting Fox News anchor Chris Wallace as saying the hearing had so far been “a disaster for the Democrats and a disaster for the reputation of Robert Mueller”. A somewhat reluctant witness in back-to-back sessions before the House judiciary and intelligence committees, Mueller refused to read directly from the report during his appearance before the judiciary committee, robbing Democrats of some made-for-TV moments. Instead, Democrats read chunks of the report to Mueller, who often gave monosyllabic responses such as “Yes”, “No” or “Correct”.
Wearing a dark suit and a blue patterned tie, Mueller sat solemnly as proceedings began. Opening the first hearing, the committee’s Democratic chairman, Jerry Nadler, praised Mueller and said no one, including Trump, is “above the law”. Despite appearing before congressional committees 88 times before, the famously slow and methodical former FBI director struggled to keep up as questions rapidly pinballed between members. Several times he had to ask for them to be repeated and he seemed less familiar with his report than many of the questioners.
Democrats, who control the House, hope Mueller’s testimony will rally public support behind their own ongoing investigations of Trump and his administration, even as they struggle with whether to launch the impeachment process set out in the US constitution for removing a president from office for “high crimes and misdemeanors”. Sometimes Democrats found him frustratingly evasive. Asked about a letter he wrote complaining about the way Barr had mischaracterised his findings, Mueller repeatedly declined to comment beyond the letter itself. “I’m not going to get into that,” he said, a phrase he repeated often.
Mueller did not respond to questions from reporters as he arrived, then was flanked by security personnel as he made his way toward the committee’s hearing room. Republicans, meanwhile, criticised him and sought to chip away at his credibility, echoing Trump’s claim that the investigation was a hoax and witch-hunt. They argued that Mueller’s team was made up of Democrats who had donated to his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Mueller was not expected to deliver any new bombshells in the hearings, according to Democratic aides, but rather stick to the contents of his 448-page investigation report about the 22-month-long investigation of Russian election meddling. The Republican Louie Gohmert angrily told Mueller “you perpetuated injustice” while colleague Guy Reschenthaler called the manner in which the inquiry was conducted “un-American”. The Republican Mike Johnson asked Mueller if his report recommended impeachment. He replied: “I’m not going to talk about that issue.”
Nonetheless, one Democrat on the House judiciary committee told the Guardian Mueller’s testimony will prove “damning and explosive”. Mueller said his investigation was conducted in “a fair and independent manner” and that members of the special counsel’s team “were of the highest integrity”.
Republicans are expected to object to the presence of Aaron Zebley, the former deputy special counsel who had day-to-day oversight of investigations in the inquiry, who will accompany Mueller. It appears that Trump himself was following the day’s events closely. He tweeted allegations of bias of Mueller and his investigators, accusing the special counsel of seeking revenge after being turned down in his job application for director of the FBI.
Zebley will be present at the judiciary hearing, according to Mueller’s spokesman, Jim Popkin, and a House judiciary staffer, and will be sworn in as a witness for the intelligence panel, according to an aide for that committee. During the hearing, Mueller denied that he had applied for another spell as FBI director and been rejected. He said he discussed the FBI job with Trump, but “not as a candidate”.
“This was specifically NOT agreed to,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning before the hearing was set to begin. Halfway through the first hearing, Trump tweeted a comment from Fox News host Chris Wallace: “This has been a disaster for the Democrats and a disaster for the reputation of Robert Mueller.”
Democrats hope the 74-year-old former FBI director will give the American public a compelling account of Russia’s sweeping interference, the Trump campaign’s readiness to accept help from Moscow and Trump’s efforts to impede the Russia inquiry that Mueller investigated as potential obstruction of justice. Pete Williams, a journalist at NBC television, said: “This is not the same Robert Mueller we saw in his 88 appearances before Congress in the past. ... I think it’s fair to say, the years have clearly taken a toll on the Bob Mueller we used to see, and I think that’s affected his ability to, perhaps, be as facile with answering the questions, as perhaps both sides wanted him to be.”
Trump, running for re-election in 2020, has blasted the Russia investigation as a “witch-hunt” and has repeatedly assailed the investigators including Mueller. The House intelligence committee hearing got under way in the afternoon. The chairman, Adam Schiff, said: “Your report laid out multiple offers of Russian help to the Trump campaign, the campaign’s acceptance of that help, and overt acts in furtherance of Russian help. To most Americans, that is the very definition of collusion, whether it is a crime or not.”
More details soon … Trump tweeted in response: “I would like to thank the Democrats for holding this morning’s hearing. Now, after 3 hours, Robert Mueller has to subject himself to #ShiftySchiff - an Embarrassment to our Country!”
Robert MuellerRobert Mueller
House of RepresentativesHouse of Representatives
Trump-Russia investigationTrump-Russia investigation
Donald TrumpDonald Trump
DemocratsDemocrats
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