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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"Mr Mueller you had no more power to exonerate him than you had the power to call him Anderson Cooper," Mr Turner says.
Mr Mueller says the report says there is no documentary evidence that George Papadopoulos shared information with the Trump campaign that Russians had damaging information on the Clinton campaign, because that's what his report said.
Representative Jackie Speier has called Russia's meddling in the 2016 election an "invasion".
Representative Chris Stewart says he agrees with Mr Mueller that "no person is above the law", and, like many other Republicans today, has referenced the American presumption of innocence.
He says that people's lives have been destroyed, even though there has been no evidence of conspiracy or coordination. He also says he believes that Congress owes it to people's whose lives have been destroyed in the process, to be clear.
Mr Mueller is now facing questions about leaks from his office to the press.
"I don't know the answer to that one," Mr Mueller said when asked what would happen if a president serves beyond a statute of limitations, given he cannot be charged while in office.
Mr Mueller is now being asked about Donald Trump saying he "loves" WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign.
A slide shown in Congress today, which Mr Mueller called "problematic".
"It's disturbing, and also subject to investigation," Mr Mueller said when asked if the Trump campaign embrace of illegal leaks from WikiLeaks was problematic.
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