Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, made clear in his opening statement at Robert Mueller’s hearing that the GOP will grill the ex-special counsel on the origins of the Russia investigation.
“One element of this story remains: the beginnings of the FBI investigation into the president. I look forward to Mr. Mueller’s testimony about what he found during his review of the origins of this investigation,” the Georgia Republican said Wednesday.
The ardent Trump defender and critic of the special counsel investigation was hearkening to Attorney General William Barr’s “investigation of the investigators,” led by U.S. Attorney John Durham. He also referenced Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation into alleged surveillance abuses by the DOJ and FBI.
“In addition, the inspector general continues to review how baseless gossip can be used to launch an FBI investigation against a private American citizen, and, eventually, a president,” Collins said. “Those results will be released, and we will need to learn from them to ensure government’s intelligence and law enforcement powers are never again turned on a private citizen or political candidate as a result of the political leanings of a handful of FBI agents. The origins and conclusions of the Mueller investigation are about the same thing: what it means to be an American. Every American has a voice in our democracy, so we must protect the sanctity of their voices by combatting election interference.”
[Read: Mueller says he won’t answer questions on Russia investigation origins or Steele dossier]
Moments later, in his opening remarks, Mueller said made it clear he would not be answering any questions related to the areas of most interest to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, saying he would not provide any insights related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation or the controversial unverified Steele dossier.
“I am unable to address questions about the opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called Steele Dossier.” Mueller said. “These matters are the subject of ongoing review by the Department. Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed to the FBI or the Justice Department.”
Until now, Mueller’s only public statement on the investigation occurred during a brief press conference in May, when Mueller expressed his hesitance about testifying.
“Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report — it contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made,” Mueller said at the time. “The work speaks for itself and the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.”
Mueller reluctantly agreed to testify following subpoenas from the Democrat-led House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.
The eve of the hearing saw some last minute drama as the Justice Department instructed Mueller not to go beyond what has already been made public in his report and as Mueller requested that his chief of staff Aaron Zebley be allowed to appear alongside him.
Following the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Mueller was appointed special counsel in May 2017 to investigate any ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. Mueller’s 448-page report concluded that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election, but he did not establish any sort of conspiracy or coordination between the Kremlin and any Trump associates — or any Americans, for that matter.
Mueller declined to reach a decision on obstruction of justice, but did outline 10 different episodes of possible obstruction committed by Trump during the FBI’s initial Russia inquiry and during the special counsel investigation, including Trump’s alleged request to then-White House counsel Don McGahn to have acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein fire Mueller. Attorney General William Barr and Rosenstein determined Trump had not obstructed justice.
Mueller’s investigation swept up a number of Trump associates, including: former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was convicted on bank fraud and financial fraud and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice; former Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI; former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who also agreed to a guilty plea deal in connection to lies he told to agents; and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and was found guilty of campaign finance violations. Longtime Trump associate Roger Stone is charged with witness tampering and making false statements, and faces a trial later this year.
Mueller also indicted 12 Russians and alleged members of the GRU for their role in the hacking of the Democratic emails and the dissemination of those emails to WikiLeaks in 2016. Mueller indicted another 13 Russians and three Russian companies — including the Internet Research Agency — for their alleged role in social media disinformation campaigns during the election.
READ COLLINS’ FULL PREPARED REMARKS BELOW:
“For two years leading up to the release of the Mueller report and in the three months since, Americans were told first what to expect, and then what to believe. Collusion, we were told, was in plain sight, even if the special counsel’s team didn’t find it. When Mr. Mueller produced his report and Attorney General Barr provided it to every American, we read no American conspired with Russia to interfere in our elections, but learned of the depths of Russia’s malice toward America.”
“We are here to ask serious questions about Mr. Mueller’s work, and we will do that. After an extended, unhampered investigation, today marks an end to Mr. Mueller’s involvement in an investigation that closed last April. The burden of proof for accusations that remain unproven is extremely high — especially in light of the special counsel’s thoroughness.”
“We are told this investigation began as an inquiry into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Mr. Mueller concluded they did. Russians accessed Democratic servers to disseminate sensitive information by tricking campaign insiders into revealing protected information.”
“The investigation also reviewed whether Donald Trump sought Russian assistance to win the presidency. Mr. Mueller concluded he did not. His family and advisors did not. In fact, the report concludes no one in the president’s campaign colluded, collaborated or conspired with Russians.”
“The president watched the public narrative surrounding the investigation assume his guilt while he knew the extent of his innocence.”
“Volume II of Mr. Mueller’s report details the president’s reactions to a frustrating investigation, where his innocence was established early on. ”
“The president’s attitude towards the investigation was understandably negative, yet the president did not use his authority to close the investigation. He asked his lawyer if Mr. Mueller had conflicts that disqualified Mr. Mueller from the job, but he did not shut down the investigation. The president knew he was innocent.”
“Those are the facts of the Mueller report. Russia meddled in the 2016 election. The president did not conspire with Russians. Nothing we hear today will change those facts.”
“One element of this story remains: the beginnings of the FBI investigation into the president. I look forward to Mr. Mueller’s testimony about what he found during his review of the origins of this investigation. In addition, the inspector general continues to review how baseless gossip can be used to launch an FBI investigation against a private American citizen, and, eventually, a president. Those results will be released, and we will need to learn from them to ensure government’s intelligence and law enforcement powers are never again turned on a private citizen or political candidate as a result of the political leanings of a handful of FBI agents.”
“The origins and conclusions of the Mueller investigation are about the same thing: what it means to be an American. Every American has a voice in our democracy, so we must protect the sanctity of their voices by combatting election interference.”
“Every American also enjoys the presumption of innocence and guarantee of due process. If we carry anything away today, it must be that we increase our vigilance against foreign election interference while we ensure our government officials don’t weaponize their power against the constitutional rights guaranteed to every United States citizen.”
“Finally, we must agree that the opportunity cost here is too high. The months we’ve spent investigating from this dais have failed to end the border crisis or contribute to the growing job market. Instead, we’ve gotten stuck, and it’s paralyzed this committee and this House.”
“Six and a half years ago, I came here to work on behalf of the people of the Ninth District of Georgia and this country. We accomplished a lot in those first six years through bipartisanship. However, this year, because of the majority’s dislike of this president, the endless hearings into a closed investigation have caused us to accomplish nothing except talk about the problems our country is facing.”
“This hearing is long overdue. We’ve had the truth for months — no American conspired to throw our elections. What we need today is to let that truth bring us confidence and closure.”
