Trump news: Mueller testimony says president could face criminal charges as Trump rails against 'disaster' hearing
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Louise Thomas
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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 Collins now notes that he is particularly interested in how the investigation into Mr Trump's campaign even began.
Mr Collins concluded his remarks by arguing that there are many pressing matters that face the US, and says that the government has been focused on the Mueller report instead of those issues.
Mr Mueller is detailing how he received his posting as special counse.
"I undertook that role because I believed it was of paramount interest to the nation to determine whether a foreign adversary had interfered in" our elections, Mr Mueller said.
He said that he undertook his assignment with that "critical objective" in mind, meaning to ensure public confidence in the investigation.
Mr Mueller says that he stressed doing work quickly and thoroughly.
"It was in the public interest for our investigation to be complete, and not to last a day longer" than was necessary.
He also said that they worked to be fair.
Mr Mueller notes that 12 officers of Russian military were charged, among 30 other charges brought forth by Mr Mueller's team.
Mr Mueller notes that the attorney general made his report largely public, and that he made remarks following.
He emphasized that his investigation found that the Russian government interfered in the election in "sweeping and systematic fashion".
He notes that there was not sufficient evidence to charge any Trump campaign members with conspiracy, and that "collusion" is not a legal term.
"We investigated a series of actions by the president towards the president", Mr Mueller said. He notes that he determined not to make a judgement on whether the president committed a crime.
He says that was out of the interest of fairness — meaning, that it would be difficult to charge a sitting president, and would run afoul of Justice Department rules.
Mr Mueller notes that it is unusual for a prosecutor to testify about their own investigation.
He notes that the Justice Department has exerted privilege over some aspects of his investigation.
He says that matters related to the Steele dossier are subject of ongoing Justice Department investigations, and so he cannot speak to them.
Mr Mueller says that he does not intend to describe or summarize his report in a different way than he did in the actual report. He said that the report was crafted with "precision".
He also says that he will not discuss the attorney general's behaviour.
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