Mueller sticks to his report and defends his Russia probe at hearings

WASHINGTON — Former special counsel Robert Mueller doggedly sought to stick to the text of his report and defended his investigation, giving little ammunition to Democrats or Republicans, in his much-anticipated testimony Wednesday before two House committees.

Mueller, a reluctant witness subpoenaed to appear before the judiciary and intelligence committees, failed to bring to life his 448-page report, as Democrats had hoped, blunting a rush to impeachment that some lawmakers wanted the testimony to propel.

But he also did not admit any mistakes in his investigation as Republicans tried to discredit him, seeking to close the door on an investigation that has clouded Donald Trump’s  presidency and to pivot to an investigation of the probe’s origins.

The 74-year-old former longtime federal prosecutor and former FBI director did confirm key points of his report, including that it did not clear Trump of obstruction nor “totally exonerate” him, as Trump claims. And he said Trump could be indicted when he leaves office.

“The finding indicates that the president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed,” Mueller said when asked by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan), the House Judiciary Committee chairman, to put his conclusion in plain, simple language.

He also pointedly rejected Trump’s description of his investigation, saying, “It was not a witch hunt” and “It was not a hoax.” Instead, he said, “I don’t think you’ve reviewed a report that is as thorough, as fair, as consistent as the report that we have in front of us.”

And Mueller raised alarms about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, saying that was not “a hoax” either, and he implicitly criticized Trump and his campaign for welcoming the assistance from Russia, an issue Intelligence Committee Democrats highlighted.

“Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious,” Mueller said.

But he also faced sharp criticism by Republicans, who accused him of turning the U.S. legal system’s presumption of innocence upside down by detailing potential acts of obstruction by Trump, but not actually charging him with a crime.

And Republicans said that neither Mueller nor any other official in the federal government has the authority to exonerate anyone, including the president — a criticism that Mueller declined to discuss.

“It was not the special counsel's job to conclusively determine Donald Trump's innocence or to exonerate him, because the bedrock principle of our justice system is a presumption of innocence,” said Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas). “Everyone is entitled to it, including sitting presidents.”

SEE PHOTOS6 key excerpts from the Mueller report

Republicans also said the testimony was old news.

 “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,” said Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the judiciary committee.

At the start of both committee hearings, Mueller warned he would not answer questions outside the bounds of his report, which found it did not have sufficient evidence to charge anyone in the Trump campaign with conspiring with Russian election interference.

And the report said Mueller decided not to make a prosecutorial judgment about whether Trump had obstructed justice because a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion said that a sitting president could not be indicted — and out of fairness because without charges the president could not defend himself.

During nearly six hours of testimony, Mueller deflected many questions by saying they fell outside the report, demanded exact citations from his questioners, and frequently gave terse yes or no answers as he largely stuck to his promise not to discuss anything outside the report.

At times, Mueller seemed to struggle with the questions, asking for them to be repeated. And he even at times answered incorrectly, as when he said it was President George H.W. Bush who first appointed him,  though it was President Ronald Reagan.

After the hearing, Trump effectively declared victory and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) made clear that the testimony had not been powerful enough for House Democrats to move to impeachment.

 “We  had a very good day today, the Republican Party,” Trump said. “There was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend. … There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt.”

Pelosi put off a question about impeachment. “We are waiting to hear about our subpoenas from the courts,” she said. "We have several considerations. And this isn’t endless. But we have live cases in the courts that must go forward.”

The most damning statement Mueller made in testimony before the Judiciary Committee he retracted in the afternoon before the Intelligence Committee.

When Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) asked if he “did not indict Donald Trump” because of a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion “stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?” Mueller said, “That’s correct.”

That answer suggested that Mueller had a case of obstruction he could file against Trump, a potential bombshell suggesting that Trump had broken a law he could be prosecuted for, even if it had to come after he left office.

But in his opening statement to the Intelligence Committee, Mueller said, “What I wanted to clarify is the fact that we did not make any determination with regard to culpability in any way.”

Mueller refused to comment on or dismiss the well-known accusation by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and other Republicans that the investigation began as a plot by Democrats to stop Trump by using a paid research group and the dossier on Trump by a former British spy.

But Mueller agreed with Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the intelligence committee, who criticized Trump and his campaign for accepting help from a foreign power.

Mueller criticized Trump’s 2016 tweets praising the website Wikileaks, which published Democrats’ emails hacked and stolen by Russian operatives he indicted as part of what he had called “multiple, systematic efforts to interfere” in that presidential election.

“‘It’s problematic’ is an understatement … in terms of giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” Mueller said.

Asked by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) if future campaigns could accept foreign assistance, Mueller said, “I hope this is not the new normal, but I fear it is."