Former special counsel Robert Mueller denied his two-year federal investigation into Russia election meddling and possible obstruction by President Trump “exonerated” the commander in chief.
Mueller, 74, made the admission during his highly anticipated appearance before lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
“Did you actually totally exonerate the president?” House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler asked the former director of the FBI.
“No,” Mueller replied.
Nadler, a Democrat from New York, also pressed Mueller on whether Trump declined to speak with his team of prosecutors in person for more than a year, despite the special counsel’s office describing it as “vital” to their inquiry.
Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the panel, followed up Nadler’s line of inquiry by asking whether Mueller’s office was able “to establish that the president was involved in the underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”
“We found insufficient evidence of the president’s culpability,” Mueller said.
Trump and his allies have repeated that Mueller’s report, released in April with redactions, failed to find any criminal wrongdoing committed by the president. Democrats argue that is a characterization of Mueller’s conclusions given Justice Department guidance that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
Democrats also argue that by laying out 10 instances of possible obstruction in his report, Mueller left it up to Congress to decide whether Trump obstructed justice, despite Attorney General William Barr saying that there was insufficient evidence to establish such a crime.
Mueller said “yes” when asked by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee whether his report states there is sufficient factual and legal basis for further investigation of potential obstruction of justice by the president.
Mueller’s highly anticipated testimony drew huge crowds to Capitol Hill, with lines of people wrapping around several corridors.
Katie Camerer, a congressional intern, said she and fellow intern Brixton Layne had been waiting to enter the hearing room since 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“Yes 6 p.m. Right after we got off work we headed over to the hearing room and have been in the same clothes since,” Camerer, a senior at William Jessup University, told the Washington Examiner of her and Layne, a senior at the University of California, Davis.
Drama was high before Mueller was even sworn in as U.S. Capitol Police had to eject a man who began yelling at the special counsel over encryption.
