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The badertion of US President Donald Trump that he would have been "totally exonerated" by special advocate Robert Mueller was dismissed by Mr. Mueller at a hearing held on Wednesday.
Mr. Mueller stated that he had not exonerated Mr. Trump from obstruction of justice.
However, Mr. Trump criticized Mueller's performance and said, "It was a great day for me."
Mr. Mueller has spent two years investigating allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, but has not established the existence of collusion in a crime.
However, he concluded that Russia was ingested in the elections on behalf of Mr Trump.
In total, 35 people and three companies were indicted by the special council for matters directly and indirectly related to alleged interference by Russia in the 2016 election. No members of the Trump family have been indicted.
Mr. Mueller – a former director of the FBI – and his team concluded that they could not accuse the crime president, but could not exonerate him either.
What did Mr. Mueller say?
During two congressional hearings, Mr. Mueller repeatedly refused to leave his 448-page report, generally giving closed answers or referring members of the committee to the text of his conclusions.
He appeared at times to fight debates, while members of the House committee had asked detailed and complicated questions about various elements of his team's 448-page report.
The questions focused mainly on the investigation by President Trump led by Mr. Mueller and on his decision not to exonerate the president from obstruction of justice, but Mr. Mueller has repeatedly insisted on the The importance of concern over Russian interference in American democracy.
"During my career, our democracy has faced many challenges, and the Russian government's efforts to interfere in our elections are among the most serious," he said.
He added: "We must do much more to prevent this intrusion, from the Russians but also from others".
What was the reaction?
Trump called it "a big day for the Republican party", while the White House called Mueller's testimony "an epic embarrbadment for the Democrats".
Meanwhile, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refrained from pleading for Mr. Trump's removal after Mr. Mueller's testimony.
However, Democrats said they would go to court to enforce a subpoena of former White House lawyer Don McGahn, and request access to information about grand jurors in the Mueller report.
How did Mr. Mueller's testimony unfold?
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Democratic House, Jerold Nadler, opened the questions on Wednesday asking Mr. Mueller if Donald Trump was right to say that he had been "exonerated" by the council's report. special, to which Mr. Muller had replied with a categorical "No".
Mr. Mueller also reiterated that the special advisory team had found evidence that the Russian government had been ingested in the 2016 US election in order to benefit candidate Trump from l & # 39; era.
The new revelations were not revealed either by the rejection of Mr Trump's request for exemption or by the confirmation of Russian efforts to the benefit of Mr Trump. The power to have them sworn by Mr. Mueller was a quick success for the members of the Democratic Committee.
Press legend: Republican congressman says Mueller hired people "who hated the president"
As and when questioned, Mr. Mueller seemed uncomfortable to find himself in the middle of a political battle between Democrats and Republicans – a situation he had clearly expressed that he wished to avoid.
Republican members have attacked the decision of the former special council not to accuse or exonerate the president of obstructing justice. Congressman John Ratcliffe stated that the decision imposed on the Speaker a different legal standard from that of the established presumption of innocence.
Mr. Ratcliffe said it was appropriate that the president should not be above the law, "but it should absolutely not be below the law, as stipulated in volume two of this report."
Mr. Mueller began to respond that the investigation into the president was a "unique situation" but had been interrupted by Mr. Ratcliffe. The report of the special advocate indicates that there is a unique set of circumstances because the directives issued by the Legal Counsel Office of the Ministry of Justice stipulate that a president in office can not be put in accusation.
Democrats push the angle of obstruction
The Democratic members of the committee focused on the detail of some of the 10 occasions identified by the special council as cases in which the president could have obstructed justice. In particular, they focused on the president's alleged attempt to fired Mr. Mueller.
Don McGahn, President Trump's lawyer at the White House, gave extensive testimony as part of the investigation by the special advocate, telling the team of Mr. Mueller under oath that the president had asked him to dismiss the special advocate, but had retreated after refusing.
In May, the New York Times reported that White House officials had then asked Mr. McGahn, at least twice, to publicly declare that he had never believed that the President had hobbled the trial of justice.
Democrat members have repeatedly tried to coach Mr. Mueller in a discussion of impeachment, which his report seems to refer to as "a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of an act". objectionable".
But Mr. Mueller seemed very reluctant to confirm that the pbadage referred to dismissal, or whether his report recommended the process or not.
Mr. Mueller stated that the office of the special council had repeatedly requested an interview with the president, but that it had been refused, which ultimately resulted in obtaining written answers from the president. Driven on the reasons why he did not give subpoena to Mr. Trump, Mr. Mueller stated that it was because of the time that it would have taken to pbad before the courts to compel the president to appear.
At the second hearing of the day – during which the House Intelligence Committee resumed the interrogation – Mr. Mueller was asked to praise Wikileaks by the President, who had leaked an email from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.
"Problematic is a euphemism in terms of what is displayed in terms of giving hope, or, I do not know, a boost to what is and should be an illegal activity," said Mr. Mueller.
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