Robert Mueller refused to answer questions during his testimony Wednesday about why he never filed charges against Maltese academic Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious figure integral to the initiation of the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016.
Over the course of two hearings Wednesday, Mueller fended off multiple lines of inquiry from Republican lawmakers who seized on how the special counsel’s own report stated Mifsud lied to investigators, demanding answers for why Mifsud escaped indictment while other individuals were charged for making false statements.
Dedicating the balance of his five minutes of questions during the House Judiciary Committee hearing in the morning, Rep. Jim Jordan recited Mueller’s report, which listed three times Mifsud misled the FBI in an interview in February 2017 (before Mueller was appointed special counsel), and asked him point blank why he did not charge Mifsud with a crime.
“I can’t get into internal deliberations with regard to who or who would not be charged,” Mueller told the Ohio congressman.
Jordan attempted a different avenue, noting how the FBI “did something they probably haven’t done before, they spied on two American citizens associated with a presidential campaign.” He was referring to the surveillance of Trump campaign advisers Carter Page, through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and George Papadopoulos, using human sources.
This took Jordan to Mifsud. The congressman asked Mueller who told Papadopoulos that the Russians had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, which kicked off a series of events that effectively sparked the counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s campaign in July 2016. After Mueller declined to answer because he “can’t get into the evidentiary filings,” Jordan shot back saying he could because it appeared in his report.
“He’s the guy who starts it all, and when the FBI interviews him, he lies three times and yet you don’t charge him with a crime,” Jordan said, before listing off all the Trump associates Mueller’s team did charge for false statements, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, lawyer Michael Cohen, and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“But the guy who puts the country through this whole saga, starts it all for three years we’ve lived this now, he lies and you guys don’t charge him,” Jordan said, adding, “And I’m curious as to why.”
Mueller remained unmoved. “Well, I can’t get into it, and it’s obvious I think that we can’t get into charging decisions,” he said.
Despite Jordan’s continued efforts to pry information from Mueller, he would not budge when asked if his team ever interviewed Mifsud and whether Mifsud worked for Western intelligence or Russian intelligence.
Mueller’s 448-page report, released in April with redactions, stated Mifsud traveled to Moscow in April 2016, after which he met Papadopoulos in London. Mueller’s report said that during this meeting, Mifsud informed Papadopoulos that he learned that the Russians had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.” Papadopoulos later repeated this claim to Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, who informed the U.S. government and prompted the original counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s campaign in July 2016, code-named Crossfire Hurricane.
Mifsud has denied that he told Papadopoulos the Russians had Clinton’s emails, and his laywer Stephan Roh claims his client has cooperated with Western intelligence, not Russian intelligence, aligning with what GOP investigators, such as Rep. Devin Nunes, have said.
Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, attempted a last-ditch effort to get Mueller to open up about Mifsud, with similar results.
“Mr. Mueller I wanted to go back to, we started off with Joseph Misfud who was at the center of your investigation, he appears in your report a dozen times or more,” Nunes said in the second hearing of the day. “He really is the epicenter, he’s at the origin of this, he’s the man who supposedly knows about Clinton’s emails. You’ve see on the screen, the Democrats in the committee have put up all the prosecutions that you made against Trump campaign officials and others. But I’m struggling to understand why you didn’t indict Joseph Mifsud, who seems to be in the middle of all of this.”
Mueller replied, “I think you understand, you cannot get into classified or law enforcement information without a rationale for doing it, and I have said all I am going to be able to say with regard to Mr. Mifsud.”
A visibly frustrated Nunes took a deep breath and moved on.
Although Mueller refused to share details about the elusive Mifsud on Wednesday, who Democratic National Committee lawyers said last year may even be dead, Republicans are now pinning their hopes on another figure: U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Durham, who hails from Connecticut, has been tasked by Attorney General William Barr to review the origins of the Russia investigation. A report published by The Hill on the eve of Mueller’s testimony said Durham’s investigators have reached out to Mifsud’s attorney Roh to set up an interview with Mifsud.
At the tale end of his line of questioning of Mueller, Jordan said it is “good news” that Barr and Durham are “going to find out why we went through this three-year saga and get to the bottom of it.”
