Mueller confirms that he has not exonerated Trump despite the president's assertions – live | American News

Not surprisingly, the president follows the special council hearing. He just tweeted a "quote" from Chris Wallace, Fox News presenter. But AssetQuotes on Twitter must be taken with a grain of salt, given its penchant for accuracy.

Representative Jim Jordan, close ally of the Congress Asset, grows Mueller about the origins of the investigation, even though he expressly stated that he would not speak about it.

Mueller with gentle manners perhaps adopted his hardest tone to the present. "I'm not sure I agree with what you said," Mueller told the Ohio Republican denouncing the investigation.

Jordan was particularly interested in the role played by the Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud in the training of the teacher. The Washington Post has more about Mifsud:

The University of Maltese origin has not surfaced publicly since [October 2017]Days later, George Papadopoulos, Trump's campaign badistant, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their interactions. Papadopoulos told investigators that it was a meeting in April 2016 during which Mifsud had alerted him to the fact that the Russians had "got dirty" Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails".

The conversation between Mifsud and Papadopoulos, which was eventually relayed by an Australian diplomat to US government officials, was cited by [Mueller] as the event that triggered the FBI's investigation into the links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

With [Barr’s] Review of the current counter-intelligence investigation, the origins of the investigation itself are now in the spotlight – and with them, the role of Mifsud, a little-known personality.

In the absence of Mifsud, a number of President Trump's allies and advisers launched a provocative theory that the Maltese professor was a Western intelligence center.

Mueller's new slogan: "I can not get into that"

Stick to his opening statement, Mueller vigorously avoids discussing internal deliberations at the Department of Justice.

Representative Martha Roby, a Republican from Alabama, has repeatedly tried to put pressure on Mueller in his discussions with AAttorney General William Barr the special advocate's inquiry.

Democrats criticized Barr for calling Mueller's report before the redacted version of it was made public. They baderted that the Attorney General deliberately tried to give the public a more favorable impression Asset that the details of the report actually allowed.

Mueller sent a letter to Barr to express his concern about his summary of the report. This letter was subsequently leaked to the press. Roby asked Mueller how the letter was found in the press, but he refused to discuss that or anything else about his discussions with Barr after the closing of the letter. 39; investigation. "I can not get into that," Mueller told Roby several times.

Well, it was predictable. Representative Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, roasted Mueller on theAsset views of the former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page.

While Strzok was working on the special council's investigation, he was exchanging text messages criticizing Trump with Page, with whom he had an extramarital affair.

republicans have repeatedly stressed Strzok's anti-Trump views to badert that the probe was biased from the beginning.

But Mueller told the committee that he did not know that Strzok hated Trump when he was hired and that the special council had "acted quickly" to remove him from the investigation once the messages had been uncovered. .

Gohmert did not appreciate Mueller's answers, as noted by a CNN reporter.

Mueller told the Judiciary Committee of the House that he had no conflict of interest preventing him from acting as a special counsel.

Asset has repeatedly claimed more recently this morningMueller was "highly confrontational," in part because he had asked to resume his position as FBI director. But there is no proof that Mueller wanted to become director of the FBI again after 12 years of service.

Trump also claimed that other members of the special council teams were "angry democrats," but Mueller used his opening statement to emphasize that all of his badociates were "of the highest integrity."

Democrats confirm the most damning parts of the report as Republicans criticize the process

Until now, most Democrats members of the Judiciary Committee of the House have used their time to confirm some of the most overwhelming parts of Mueller report.

For example, Democratic representative Hank Johnson walks through Trump leading the former White House lawyer Don McGahn refer the special advocate.

But Republicans love John Ratcliffe have used their time extensively to question the scope of Mueller's investigation and whether his investigation followed the regulations of the Department of Justice.

Mueller refused to say if anything in the second volume of his report, which deals with AssetPotential hindrance to justice is impenetrable conduct.

"Our mandate does not go to any other means of addressing conduct," said Mueller in response to a question from the representative Jim Sensenbrenner, a republican.

Mueller is sentenced to prison for obstruction

Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, A Democratic parliamentarian from Texas, asked Mueller if the obstruction of justice would justify a significant jail sentence.

"Yes," Mueller replied.

John Ratcliffe, a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee of the House, uses his five minutes of questions to … do not ask many questions.

Ratcliffe insists on the presumption of innocence in the American justice system, arguing that this presumption extends to incumbent presidents. And he accuses the special counsel of violating all the principles enunciated for prosecutors.

His rant has left little or no opportunity to Mueller reply.

Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House, asked Mueller to confirm that his report did not exonerate the President, despite AssetRepeated claims of "no collusion" and "no obstruction".

"Did you really totally exonerate the president?" Nadler asked. "No," Mueller replied.

Mueller said, "It is true that my report does not exonerate President Trump for obstructing justice."

Doug Collins, the main Republican of the Judiciary Committee of the House, hammers Mueller on the distinction between the terms collusion and conspiracy.

"I'm reading your report, sir," Collins said sternly, noting the use of the term "collusion" in Mueller's report, which the congressman described as "conspiracy."

The distinction may seem trivial, but it matters a lot Asset, who launched a "no collusion" mantra to reject Mueller's investigation. But the special advocate said in his opening statement that his report did not talk about collusion because it was not "a legal term."