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Mueller: Investigation Did Not Exonerate Trump of Alleged Obstruction

Ken Bredemeier

   This story was updated on July 24 at 12:31 pm
   WASHINGTON - Former special counsel Robert Mueller told Congress
   Wednesday that his investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S.
   presidential election did not exonerate President Donald Trump of
   allegedly obstructing justice by trying to thwart the probe, even
   though the U.S. leader has claimed it did.

   As hours of testimony started, House Judiciary Committee chairman
   Jerrold Nadler asked the prosecutor, "Did you totally exonerate the
   president?"

   "No," Mueller responded, later adding, "The president was not
   exculpated for the acts he allegedly committed."

   Mueller explained, however, that Trump could not be criminally charged
   because of a long-standing Justice Department policy prohibiting the
   indictment of a sitting president. Mueller said his team unsuccessfully
   tried for a year to reach agreement with Trump to give live,
   face-to-face testimony, but the president only answered some questions
   in writing.

   Later in the hearing, Republican Congressman Ken Buck asked Mueller,
   "You believe that he committed --- you could charge the president of
   the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?

   "Yes," Mueller replied.

   Why Trump wasn't charged
   However, Mueller, hewing closely to the 448-page report his
   investigators compiled after a 22-month probe, acknowledged to
   Republican Congressman Doug Collins that his investigators concluded
   there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump or any of his 2016
   campaign staff with conspiring with Russia to help Trump win a
   four-year term in the White House.

   Another Republican, Congressman James Sensenbrenner, attacked Mueller
   for continuing his probe even knowing that Trump could not be charged
   with a crime, although Mueller said that was permissible under Justice
   Department guidelines.

   "If you're not going to indict the president, then you're just going to
   continue fishing, that's my opinion," Sensenbrenner said.

   Mueller answered many questions with cryptic yes or no responses,
   saying he stood by the conclusions contained in his lengthy report. At
   one point he said, "I again go back to the text of the report,"
   declining to further analyze his findings.

   Democrats expressed their belief that Trump obstructed justice, as
   outlined in the report. Republicans insisted Mueller's report had
   cleared the president and that the investigation was based on
   questionable intelligence before Mueller was named special counsel in
   May 2017. The Republicans cited a report paid for by Democrats
   containing largely unsubstantiated claims by former British
   intelligence officer Christopher Steele about Trump's time in Moscow
   before he entered politics.

   Mueller repeatedly said the origins of the Russia investigation, 10
   months before he became special counsel, were "outside my purview."

   But shortly after Mueller acknowledged during his testimony that his
   investigation had not been impeded by the White House, Trump quickly
   said on Twitter, "In other words, there was NO OBSTRUCTION."

     NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]July 24, 2019

   Who's watching?
   Millions of Americans tuned in for what proved to be a riveting day of
   contentious questioning before the House Judiciary and Intelligence
   Committees.

   The hearings are equally critical for the 235 opposition Democrats in
   the House of Representatives, more than a third of whom have called for
   Trump's impeachment or the start of an impeachment inquiry. These
   critics allege that the president committed "high crimes and
   misdemeanors" -- the standard for impeachment -- by trying to halt
   Mueller's 22-month probe.

   The Mueller report said the president directed then-White House counsel
   Donald McGahn to try to oust Mueller and then publicly lie that Trump
   had not told him to seek Mueller's dismissal. Mueller alleged that
   Trump directed his one-time campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to try
   to get then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the Mueller
   investigation. The report also alleged that the president possibly
   engaged in witness tampering to discourage two key aides convicted by
   Mueller's team, Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former
   campaign chairman Paul Manafort, from cooperating with investigators.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1153997249497772032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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