Former special counsel Robert Mueller declined to answer questions on why any direct mention of Fusion GPS was omitted from his 448-page report on the Russia investigation.
“I’m not familiar with that,” Mueller said when asked about the indirect mention of the opposition research firm in his report.
Mueller’s report said a New York Times report quoted a spokesman for Trump’s legal team suggesting that the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between members of President Trump’s inner circle and a Russian lawyer “might have been setup by individuals working with the firm that produced the Steele reporting,” but does not mention the opposition research firm or its founder Glenn Simpson.
NBC News reported in November 2017 that Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya said she received incriminating information on Democrats from Simpson, who had worked with her on a case involving money laundering by a Russian company. A lawyer for Fusion GPS said at the time the firm’s work on the Trump dossier was separate from the money laundering case and that the firm was unaware of the Trump Tower meeting when it happened.
The Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign hired Fusion GPS and British ex-spy Christopher Steele during the presidential election and he compiled an unverified dossier on Trump’s alleged ties to Russia.
Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, pressed Mueller on why Fusion GPS or Simpson were left out of his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump obstructed justice.
Mueller said multiple times the answers to Chabot’s questions were “outside of my purview” and any matter relating to Fusion GPS or Simpson were “being handled by others at the Department of Justice.”
“We know that the Clinton campaign did pay Fusion GPS to gather dirt on the Trump campaign from persons associated with foreign governments. But your report doesn’t mention a thing about Fusion GPS in it,” Chabot told Mueller. “Can you see that from neglecting to mention Glenn Simpson and Fusion GPS’ involvement with the Clinton campaign to focusing on a brief meeting at the Trump Tower that produced nothing to ignoring the Clinton campaign’s own ties to Fusion GPS why some view your report as a pretty one-sided attack on the president?”
“That is still outside of my purview,” Mueller said.
Mueller said in his opening statement he would not provide any insights related to the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation or the controversial unverified Steele dossier.
“I therefore will not be able to answer questions about certain areas that I know are of public interest. For example, 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.’ 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.”
