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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You'll hear about Donald Trump's "I'm f****d" comments today, I'm sure. But, here's a quick reminder on how he reacted when the Mueller report initially came out all the way back in April:
Donald Trump says this whole thing is a joke, and not to be given attention. But, he's certainly paying attention, it seems:
..... and here we go! Robert Mueller is now in the hearing, and we already have some protesters before he even sits down.
An anchor on CBS News just said that Robert Mueller's nickname is "Bobby three sticks" because he is technically Robert Mueller III. We had no idea about that nickname after covering the guy for over two years... Who knew?
Representative Jerry Nadler is now up, and praising Mr Mueller's military history, and then his time in public service.
He previously served as the director of the FBI (just after the 9/11 attacks), before then getting his gig as the special counsel.
Mr Nadler says that Mr Mueller's indictments "speak for themselves", and notes that he indicted multiple individuals in Donald Trump's campaign and personal orbit.
That list includes: His 2016 campaign chairman, and his former personal lawyer.
Mr Nadler is reviewing the Mueller report in his opening statements, and giving us a clue as to how Democrats might proceed today.
Among the elements he noted, aside from those indictments: The fact that Mr Mueller did not exonerate Mr Trump, and that Mr Trump had attempted to get Mr Mueller fired from his job.
Mr Nadler says that Mr Mueller said the US justice system has other avenues to hold a sitting president accountable other than through the courts. He's referring to Congress' ability to impeach the president.
Ranking member Doug Collins — the top Republican on the committee — is now up, and says that the "burden of proof for accusations that remain is extremely high", and notes the investigation began to analyze Russian meddling int he 2016 campaign.
Mr Collins says that Mr Mueller determined Mr Trump did not collude with Russians to win the 2016 election.
Mr Collins now says Mr Trump "knew" of his "innocence", but had to watch media coverage of the report.
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