Mueller says he did not clear Trump of obstruction

WASHINGTON

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller disputed in stark terms Wednesday President Donald Trump's assessment of the findings of his two-year investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and allegations that Trump's campaign colluded with the effort.

Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee that Trump's and his top official's claims of "total exoneration" based on Mueller's work "is not what the report said."

"The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed," Mueller said in the first of two hearings before House panels, using a word that means to declare one is not guilty of wrongdoing.

In his report, Mueller pointed to 10 incidents that raised questions of obstruction of justice by the president, including Trump's attempt to remove the special counsel from his post and attempts to curtail his investigation.

He cited Justice Department policy to not indict a sitting president for his office's decision not to recommend prosecution, saying during his brief remarks that "charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider," and reiterated that point before Congress.

But he noted that the president could be indicted after leaving office.

"You believe that you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?” Republican congressman Ken Buck asked.

Mueller, in a succinct style emblematic of much of his testimony, said simply, "Yes."

Asked by reporters about Mueller's dismissal of Trump's exoneration claim, the president appeared to contradict his earlier insistence saying the former special counsel “didn’t have a right to exonerate.”

But as he shuttered his office in May, Mueller was adamant that any testimony before Congress would not stray beyond the findings of his 448-page report. He continued to toe that line Wednesday, but his testimony nonetheless carries significant weight as it refocuses attention on a matter the president maintains is a "witch hunt."

Trump's Republican allies on Capitol Hill continued to take a confrontational line against Mueller during Wednesday's hearing, questioning the origin of his investigation and alleged biases fueling the investigation as they simultaneously trumpeted its conclusion that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia in its efforts to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favor.

In one particularly heated exchange congressman Louie Gohmert lambasted the former special counsel, angrily telling Mueller "You perpetuated injustice!” by carrying out his probe while Trump, Gohmert claimed, was defending himself against biased prosecutors.

Congressman Kelly Armstrong continued the broadside against Mueller's team, alleging that over half of the 19 lawyers "had a direct relationship" with Trump's 2016 Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton.

Mueller rejected the charges saying, "I've been in this business for almost 25 years, and in those 25 years I have not had occasion once to ask someone about their political affiliation."

"It is not done," he said. "What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job, and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity."

During the afternoon's lengthy session before the House Intelligence Committee Mueller rejected Trump's characterization of his investigation as a "witch hunt."

He further said he chose not to subpoena the president because his team thought doing so would have extended the probe for a "substantial period of time" as Trump launched legal challenges.

While Mueller did receive answers he posed to the question in writing, he said they were "certainly not as useful as the interview would be," labeling the answers Trump provided in that form as "generally" inadequate, untruthful and incomplete.

Mueller continued to sound the alarm over potential Russian interference in the upcoming election, telling lawmakers “they’re doing it as we sit here.”