Ex-special counsel Robert Mueller declined or evaded 198 questions during more than five hours of testimony on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Mueller responded to scores of questions from lawmakers with answers such as, “I will leave the answer to our report,” “that is beyond my purview,” “I can’t speak to that,” and “pass,” according to a NBC News tracker that monitored Mueller’s answers.
Mueller testified first in front of the House Judiciary Committee starting at 8:30 a.m. for over three hours before moving on to testify again in front of the House Intelligence Committee. Mueller’s second hearing wrapped up at around 3:30 p.m. Mueller testified on his report to Congress on Russian interference in the 2016 election and the allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian agents.
Mueller had previously stated he would not testify to anything beyond what is already made public in his report to Congress. The Department of Justice also directed Mueller to restrict his testimony to the bounds of the report after Mueller requested such direction from the department.
