The White House dismissed special counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony as an “epic embarrassment” for the Democrats.
Opponents of President Trump hope the highly charged day of hearings Wednesday will rally public support behind their effort to investigate his administration as Democrats weigh whether to launch impeachment hearings.
But his halting delivery and requests for clarification of questions were seized on by the president’s supporters who said the special counsel had offered nothing new and done it badly.
In a statement issued as Mueller prepared for the afternoon round of his testimony before two congressional committees, Stephanie Grisham, Trump’s press secretary, said: “The last three hours have been an epic embarrassment for the Democrats. Expect more of the same in the second half.”
Mueller said he had not exonerated Trump of obstruction of justice and initially suggested he would have sought his indictment were it not for a Justice Department policy against charging sitting president. But he later changed his answer to say he had not reached a “determination” on whether Trump had committed a crime.
Trump himself has provided a running commentary on proceedings via Twitter.
I would like to thank the Democrats for holding this morning’s hearing. Now, after 3 hours, Robert Mueller has to subject himself to #ShiftySchiff – an Embarrassment to our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2019
The tweet was a reference to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of Trump’s chief antagonists on the Russia collusion investigation.
Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal attorney, tweeted that the testimony had revealed flaws in the investigation.
THREAD: Statement from Jay Sekulow, Counsel to the President:
“This morning’s testimony exposed the troubling deficiencies of the Special Counsel’s investigation. The testimony revealed that this probe was conducted by a small group of politically-biased prosecutors…
— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) July 24, 2019
The American people understand that this issue is over. They also understand that the case is closed.”
— Jay Sekulow (@JaySekulow) July 24, 2019
