Mueller says his report has not exonerated Trump of his charges of obstructing him | American News

The former US special adviser, Robert Mueller, has methodically demolished Donald Trump's central accusations about his investigation of Russia – insisting that the results did not exonerate Trump – but he did not provide fire that the proponents of impeachment feared in his testimony before Congress on Wednesday.

Testifying for nearly seven hours during consecutive hearings held at the Capitol, Mueller dismissed the US president's claims that his investigation was "a witch hunt", that Russian interference in the elections was "a hoax "and that Mueller's report provided Trump with" total exoneration ".

Yet for those who had presented the hearings as a televised moment conducive to the transmission of the Mueller report to millions of people unaware of the content of it, there was also a feeling of anti-climax. It was a political theater without a lot of drama since Mueller was sticking firmly to the conclusions he had published and brought few revelations.

Worse still, it was a powerless star witness who struggled to keep pace with questions from one congressman to another and only providing stop-ping answers. Sometimes he seemed uncertain about the contents of his own report.

Nevertheless, Adam Schiff, Democratic Chairman of the House's Intelligence Committee, gave specific explanations about Mueller likely to attract the attention of viewers. "This is not a witch hunt," said the special advocate, refuting one of the president's most repeated claims.

Congress Democratic member Jackie Speier asked, "Would you agree that this is not a hoax that the Russians have tried to influence on our election?" Mueller, who was very animated by the warning of the Russian threat, replied: "Absolutely. This was not a hoax.

Earlier in the day, at the beginning of the Judiciary Committee hearing, its chairman, Jerry Nadler, asked if Mueller's report exonerated Trump, as the president has often said. Mueller replied, "No.

The report did not reach the question of the obstruction of justice, he added, and "the president was not cleared for the acts that he would have committed. "

Mueller spent 22 months investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and links the Trump campaign with Moscow, publishing its redacted report in April. At a press conference held at the end of May, he made it clear that, while he was required to testify at Capitol Hill, he would not go beyond the contents of his report of 448 pages. He was as good as his word.

A somewhat reluctant witness, Mueller refused to read directly into the report, depriving Democrats of certain theatrical scenes. Instead, he often gave monosyllabic answers such as "Yes," "No," or "Correct." There have been times when Democrats have come to a conclusion but instead of clarifying it has obscured.

Mueller's testimony did not change the ideas some had hoped for in the Trump impeachment debate, currently supported by more than 90 Democrats in the House, including several presidential candidates in 2020.

After her testimony, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said at a joint press conference: "My position has always been to make every decision we make in this regard with the utmost strength , and we still have cases pending in court. It's not endless.

Pelosi recalled that in the Watergate scandal, it was the emergence of cbadettes that "broke the deal", and said the Democrats should address the people "in the most strong possible ".

Nadler has taken note of imminent legal actions to obtain information about the grand jury and a subpoena from former White House lawyer Don McGahn.

Nadler expressed his satisfaction that the American people heard directly what Mueller's investigation revealed. "Whoever would have acted in this way, if he was not president in office, would be criminally prosecuted and charged," he told reporters.

He added: "Today's day has been a turning point in communicating the facts to the American people."

Schiff said Mueller's testimony about the Russian threat was powerful. "One of the most frightening moments of our committee was the fear that it would become the new normal …

"Even after the nightmare of the last two and a half years, the US president will no longer accept foreign aid … We are entering this election more vulnerable than we should be."

Although he has appeared before congressional committees 88 times before, the former FBI director, slow and methodical, dressed in a suit, a white shirt and a white shirt. a blue patterned tie, seemed uncomfortable and sometimes asked that the questions be repeated. If, as some have argued, the report was the book and the adaptation of the film, it was a movie without a main man.

David Axelrod, chief strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns, tweeted: "It's hard to say, but Mueller, whom I deeply respect, has not testified publicly in Congress for at least six years. And it does not seem as sharp as it was then. "

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law from Harvard University, tweeted: "Even though I hate to say it, this morning's hearing was a disaster. Far from giving life to his damning report, Robert Mueller, a tired man, ruined everything.

At the end of the day, however, the Democrats managed to be fooled.

Mueller was questioned about why he had not brought criminal charges against the president, who had refused to be questioned. MP Ted Lieu of Hawaii, a congressman, asked, "Again, you did not accuse Donald Trump, that's because of the CLO. [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion stating that you can not charge a president in office, is not it? "replied Mueller:" That's right. "

Later, he sought to clarify his answer: "As we say in the report, we did not determine whether the president had committed a crime. who had argued that the OLC guidelines had played no role in Mueller's thinking.

Mueller also acknowledged that a president could be prosecuted after leaving office. Republican Congressman Ken Buck asked: "You believe he's engaged … you can accuse the President of the United States of obstructing justice after he leaves his post ? "

Mueller replied, "Yes."

In the last bit of bitter partisanship in Washington, Democrats repeatedly insisted that no one was above the law as Republicans attacked Mueller's credibility and accused his team of political bias. They said Mueller's team was made up of Democrats who donated to Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in 2016. Republican Devin Nunes said, "Welcome everyone, until the last breath of the conspiracy theory of Russian collusion. "

It seems that Trump himself was following the events of the day closely. He tweeted allegations of bias against Mueller, accusing him of seeking revenge after being rejected in his candidacy for the post of FBI director. Mueller said under oath that he was not, in fact, a candidate for the position of FBI director under Trump.

Later, at the White House, Trump told reporters, "We had a very good day today, the Republican Party … There was no defense of what Robert Mueller was trying to defend … There was no defense against this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt.

He added: "Today has brought a lot to everyone."