Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Mueller Dismisses Trump's Claims of Russia Probe Exoneration
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
July 24, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — Robert Mueller on Wednesday bluntly dismissed President Donald Trump’s claims of total exoneration in the federal probe of Russia’s 2016 election interference. The former special counsel told Congress he explicitly did not clear the president of obstructing his investigation. The former special counsel also rejected Trump’s assertions that the probe was a “witch hunt” and hoax.
In hours of sometimes halting and stilted testimony, unfolding at a moment of deep division in the country, Mueller also condemned Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks, which released Democratic emails stolen by Russia. He declared Russian election interference one of the greatest challenges to democracy that he had encountered in his career.
Russia, he said, was “doing it as we sit here.”

One-Word Answers to Many Questions

Mueller’s reluctance at the televised Capitol Hill hearings to stray beyond his lengthy written report, and his reliance on terse, one-word answers, produced few if any new revelations to move Americans who may be hardened in their opinions about the success of Donald Trump’s presidency and whether impeachment proceedings are necessary. But that didn’t stop Republicans and Democrats from their own divergent paths to question Mueller.
Trump’s GOP allies tried to cast the former special counsel and his prosecutors as politically motivated. They referred repeatedly to what they consider the improper opening of the investigation.
Democrats, meanwhile, sought to emphasize the most incendiary findings of Mueller’s 448-page report and weaken Trump’s reelection prospects in ways that Mueller’s book-length report did not. They hoped that even if his testimony did not inspire impeachment demands — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made clear she will not pursue impeachment, for now — Mueller could nonetheless unambiguously spell out questionable, norm-shattering actions by the president.
Yet Mueller appeared unwilling or unable to offer crisp sound bites that could reshape public opinions.
Democrats were hoping for vintage Robert Mueller III, circa 2001 when he was leading the FBI after 9/11. Instead, they saw a less forceful public presence but one still skilled enough in the ways of Washington to not fall for Republicans’ leading questions or read his report aloud in a way that Democrats could exploit.

‘It is Not a Witch Hunt’

He frequently gave single-word answers to questions, even when given opportunities to crystallize allegations of obstruction of justice against the president. He referred time again to the wording in his report.
But he was unflinching on the most-critical matters.
In the opening minutes of the hearing, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, asked Mueller about Trump’s claims of vindication in the investigation.
“Did you actually totally exonerate the president?” Nadler asked.
“No,” Mueller replied.
When Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, asked, “Your investigation is not a witch hunt, is it?”
“It is not a witch hunt,” Mueller flatly replied.
He gave Democrats a flicker of hope when he told Rep. Ted Lieu of California that he did not charge Trump because of a Justice Department legal opinion that says sitting presidents cannot be indicted. That statement cheered Democrats who understood him to be suggesting that he would otherwise have recommended prosecution on the strength of the evidence.
But Mueller later walked back that statement, saying, “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.” His team, he said, “never started the process” of evaluating whether to charge the president.

‘Outside My Purview’

Though Mueller described Russian government’s efforts to interfere in American politics as among the most serious challenges to democracy he had encountered in his decades-long career – which included steering the FBI after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks – Republicans focused on his conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“Those are the facts of the Mueller report. Russia meddled in the 2016 election,” said Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. “The president did not conspire with Russians. Nothing we hear today will change those facts.”
Mueller, pressed as to why he hadn’t investigated a “dossier” of claims that the Republicans insist helped lead to the start of the probe, he said that was not his charge.
That was “outside my purview,” he said repeatedly.
Mueller mostly brushed aside Republican allegations of bias, but in a moment of apparent agitation, he said he didn’t think lawmakers had ever “reviewed a report that is as thorough, as fair, as consistent as the report that we have in front of us.”
And when he was pressed on the fact that multiple members of his team had made contributions to Democratic candidates, Mueller bristled at the implication that his prosecutors were compromised.
“I have been in this business for almost 25 years, and in those 25 years I have not had the occasion to ask somebody about their political affiliation,” Mueller said. “It is not done. What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity.”

Trump Irritated Mueller Was Getting National Stage

Mueller, known for his taciturn nature, warned that he would not stray beyond what had already been revealed in his report. And the Justice Department instructed him to stay strictly within those parameters, giving him a formal directive to point to if he faced questions he did not want to answer.
Trump lashed out ahead of and during the hearings, saying on Twitter that “Democrats and others” were trying to fabricate a crime and pin it on “a very innocent President.” That was a continuation of the past two years during which Trump has made Mueller a regular target in an attempt to undermine his credibility.
Over the past week, Trump had begun to frequently ask confidants how he thought the hearing would go, and while he expressed no worry that Mueller would reveal anything damaging, he was irritated that the former special counsel was being given the national stage, according to two Republicans close to the White House. They were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
Long aware of the power of televised images, Trump seethed to one adviser that he was annoyed Democrats would be given a tool to ramp up their investigations — and that the cable news networks would now have new footage of Mueller to play endlessly.
Publicly, Trump this week feigned indifference to Mueller’s testimony , telling reporters, “I’m not going to be watching — probably — maybe I’ll see a little bit of it.”

DON'T MISS

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

DON'T MISS

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

DON'T MISS

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

DON'T MISS

Chinese Leader Xi Issues a Positive Message to US Business Leaders as Ties Improve

DON'T MISS

Cargo Ship Lost Power, Issued Mayday Before Hitting Baltimore’s Bridge

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Social Media Company Soars Nearly 50% in Its First Day of Trading on Nasdaq

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Appears Likely to Preserve Access to Abortion Medication Mifepristone

DON'T MISS

Court Agrees to Pause Trump’s Civil Fraud Judgment if He Puts up $175M

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Nab Suspect in March 14 Slaying on Bulldog Lane

DON'T MISS

This Kitty Checks All the Boxes: ‘Happy, Playful, Loves to Eat’

No data was found

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

11 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

12 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

12 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

12 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

12 hours ago

CA’s Liberal Government Has a Long History of Caving to Special Interests

13 hours ago

Corrupt Process? Bullard, Edison Parents Blast Handling of Superintendent Search

13 hours ago

Police Had About 90 Seconds to Stop Traffic Before Baltimore Bridge Fell. 6 Workers Are Feared Dead

14 hours ago

NBC Has Cut Ties With Former RNC Head Ronna McDaniel After Employee Objections, Some on the Air

14 hours ago

Here Are Some Numbers That Will Help You Get Your March Madness Fix for the Sweet 16

14 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has sunk or disabled a third of all Russian warships in the Black Sea in just over two years of war, the navy spokes...

5 hours ago

5 hours ago

Ukrainian Navy Says a Third of Russian Warships in the Black Sea Have Been Destroyed or Disabled

Composite image of President Trump and Devin Nunes
9 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: How Going to Work for Trump Turned Devin Nunes Into a Millionaire

10 hours ago

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP Pick in 2000, Dead at 82

11 hours ago

Trump Criticizes Judge and His Daughter After Gag Order in Hush-Money Case

12 hours ago

CA Insurance Market ‘in Chaos,’ Says Former Insurance Commissioner. Can Lara Fix It?

12 hours ago

Stock Market Today: S&P 500 Sets a Record After Wall Streets Breaks Out of Its Lull

12 hours ago

House Speaker Mike Johnson Headed to Fresno on April 4

12 hours ago

Bredefeld, Smittcamp Debate the Salary of Valley Children’s CEO

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend