Trump news: Mueller testimony says president could face criminal charges as Trump rails against 'disaster' hearing
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Robert Mueller, the former US special counsel who investigated the Russian interference into the 2016 presidential campaign and Donald Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, has testified on Capital Hill, where he was asked to explain the conclusions he reached in his report released earlier this year.
The whole world was watching, and Democrats skilfully laid out the various ways in which Mr Mueller's report shows the president obstructed justice by trying to end the Mueller report.
They said they had 10 to list, in all.
Mr Trump had repeatedly attempted to downplay or dismiss Mr Mueller’s reluctant appearance on Capitol Hill — which was forced through a subpoena — to discuss his 448-page report into the 2016 election and its aftermath, but has attacked Mr Mueller's testimony anyhow, and has claimed Mr Mueller may have been conflicted because he had interviewed for a job as FBI director just before getting his job as special counsel (Mr Mueller had done that job before, had been praised for his work in that job, and denied he had interviewed for that job as the president says).
During the first half of his testimony, Mr Mueller indicated that a major reason the president was not charged was that Justice Department rules prohibit it. Mr Mueller did note that he believes a president could be charged with a crime after leaving office.
In the end, Democrats appeared to be laying the groundwork for further investigations into Mr Trump's political world, with top leaders pledging to follow the money trail to determine if the president had acted unlawfully.
And, with the future in mind, Democrats repeatedly asked Mr Mueller if the president could be charged with a crime once he leaves office. They said he could.
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We're nearing the end of the first half of this testimony. Mr Mueller is expected to speak to the House Intelligence Committee later.
Mr Mueller is being asked once again for information related to the Steele dossier, and has refused to comment on those matters because the Justice Department is investigating the matter.
Representative Sylvia Garci is now asking about Roger Stone, who played an important role in efforts to distribute WikiLeaks dumps of Hillary Clinton's campaign's emails.
Republicans are done questioning Mr Mueller. The committee hearing is expected to be finished in the next 15 minutes. We'll then have a break before yet another hearing in the House Intelligence Committee.
From earlier, here's Mr Mueller admitting that a primary reason for his team's decision not to charge the president was because he is the president.
Mr Mueller says he does not want to get into why he accepted the job as special counsel.
He says he did not ask about political affiliation when considering individuals to join his team.
The first portion of Mr Mueller's testimony today is now over.
Members on the committee will now have five days to submit written questions to Mr Mueller.
The testimony today lasted about 3 hours and 40 minutes.
The next testimony will be in about 20 minutes.
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