mr. mueller: no. rep. nadler: you were unable to conclude the president did not commit obstruction of justice, is that correct? mr. mueller: at the outset we determined that when it came to the president: ability -- president's culpability we need to go forward only after taking into account the opinion that indicated a president -- sitting president cannot be indicted. rep. nadler: the report did not conclude he did not commit obstruction of justice? is that correct? mr. mueller: that is correct. rep. nadler: what about total exoneration, did you totally exonerate the president? mr. mueller: no. rep. nadler: the report states that. mr. mueller: it does. rep. nadler: your investigation found "multiple acts by the present that were capable of asserting undue influence over law-enforcement investigations, including the russian interference and obstruction investigations." is that correct? mr. mueller: correct. rep. nadler: can you explain what that finding mean so the american people can understand it? mr. m

why, mr. mueller? if you had such a broad mandate to investigate an election in interference, why didn't you look into evidence that clinton not ukraine's health and the dnc was working to get ukraine's help to get dirt on trump to help hillary in the 2016 election russian mark why didn't you investigate that? does it matter if he influences coming from russia or ukraine? does not matter? next, it's important you have to cover mueller's staffing decision. it mr. mueller, civil question, is it true you chose andrew weissmann personally and that "the new york times" called him your pit bull? did you ever read licensed alive by sidney powell that talks about wiseman's god awful horrific track of withholding exculpatory evidence? were you aware of that? when were you aware of that? were you aware that wiseman was a devout democrat and that he was at her clinton's victory party? who did the vetting and hiring of the rest of your staff? when did you become aware that your team was only made up of big-time de

why, mr. mueller?o if you had such a broad mandate to investigate election interference, why didn't you look into evidence that clinton sought ukraine's help and the dnc was working to get ukraine's help to get dirt on trump to help hillary in the 2016 election russian. why didn't you investigate that? does it matter if the influence is coming from russia or ukraine? does it matter? next, it's important you have to cover mueller's staffing decision. mr. mueller, simple question, is it true you chose andrew weissmann personally and that "the new york times" called him your pit bull? did you ever read "license to lie" by sidney powell that talks about weissmann's god awful horrific track of withholding exculpatory evidence? were you aware of that? when were you aware of that? were you aware that weissmann was a devout democrat and that he was at clinton's victory party? who did the vetting and hiring of the rest of your staff? when did you become aware that your team was only made up of big-time democrat

mr. mueller and mr. zebley will be available to answer questions today and will be sworn in, consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. mr. mueller and mr. zebley's appearance is in keeping with the committee's longstanding practice of receiving testimony from current or former department of justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath and before we begin your testimony, mr. mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn? >> do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. the record will reflect that the witnesses have been duly sworn. ranking member? >> thank you, mr. chair. i just want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we're here to ask director mueller questions. he is here as counsel. our side is not going to be directing any questions to mr. zebley and we have concerns a

mr. mueller and mr. zebley will be available to answer questions today and will be sworn in consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. mr. mueller and mr. zebley's appearance today before the committee is in keeping with the committee's long-standing practice of receiving testimony from current or former department of justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath, and before you begin your testimony, mr. mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn? would you swear them and? >> do you swear or affirm the testimony were about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. the record will reflect that the witnesses have been duly sworn. ranking member? >> thank you, the strattera. i just want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we are here to ask director mueller questions. he is here as counsel. our side is not going to be directi

mr. mueller and mr. zebley resigned at the end of may 2019 when the special counsel's office was closed. both mr. mueller and mr. zebley will be available to answer questions today and will be sworn in consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. their appearance before the committee is in keeping with the long standing practice of receiving testimony from current or former department of justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath and before we begin your testimony, mr. mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn? do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> thank you. the record will reflect the witnesses have been duly sworn. ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chair. i want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we're here to ask director mueller questions. he's here as counsel.

mr. mueller: that's accurate. >> mr. mueller, thank you for your investigation uncovering this very disturbing evidence. my friend will have additional questions on the subject. however, it is clear to me if anyone else had ordered a witness to create a false record and cover up acts that are subject of a law enforcement investigation, that person would be facing criminal charges. i yield back my time. >> the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from ohio. >> director of the fbi said on february 10, 2017, in the interview, he lied. he points this out in 193. mr. denied and also falsely stated and also omitted. three times he lied to the fbi you didn't charge him with a crime. why not? mr. mueller: i'm sorry, did you say 193? >> volume one, 193, lied three times. mr. mueller: i cannot get into internal deliberations. , in 2016,emember this the fbi did something they probably haven't done before. they spied on to american citizens associated with a presidential campaign. george papadopoulos and carter page. with carter pa

mr. mueller: it does. mr. mueller: it does. rep. nadler: your investigation found "multiple acts by the president capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including russian interference and instruction investigations." is that correct? mr. mueller: correct. rep. nadler: can you explain in clear terms what that finding means so the american people can understand it? mr. mueller: the finding wascates that the president acts helpated for the allegedly committed. fact, you aren talking about incidents "in which the president sought to use his power outside of legal channels to assert undue influence over your investigation. " is that correct? mr. mueller: yes. you wrote "the president became aware his own conduct was being investigated. at that point the president engaged in a second phase of conduct involving public attacks on the investigation, nonpublic efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation." president trump's effort

mr. mueller has done a wonderful job. and he is thorough. he -- the thing of it is that the republicans will try to get him mixed up whenever they asked a question. and our country has gone to not better. it used to be wonderful. we need our congress -- democrats and republicans to get together and do our country well. mr. mueller has done a wonderful job. and i will continue to watch this episode as it's going on. i think that trump should be impeached. >> all right. let's get one more view from california. this is the republican line in san diego. ellen, go ahead. >> hi, yes. i set my alarm to get up the 5:30 in morning pacific time. >> wow! >> and i watched the whole thing, actually fell asleep a couple of times during it. >> glad you tuned in glad you joined there is the speaker sorry about that. glad you got to watch it we're going to listen to the house speaker nancy pelosi. >> the cameras were there. good evening, everyone. sorry for the delay. it's been a pretty interesting day. an historic one as a matter of fact, a day in which the

mueller, over here. mr. mueller d you indeed interview for the fbi director job one day before you were appointed special counsel? >> my understanding it was not applying for the job. i was asked to give my input on what it would take to do the job, which triggered the interview you're talking about. >> so you don't recall on may 16th, 2017, that you interviewed with the president regarding the fbi director job? >> i interviewed with the president. >> was it about the fbi director job? >> it was about the job, not me applying for the job. >> so your statement here today is you didn't interview to apply for the fbi director job. >> that's correct. >> so did you tell the vice president that the fbi director position would be the one job that you would come back for? >> i don't recall that one. >> you don't recall that? >> no. >> okay. given your 22 months of investigation, tens of millions of zlars spent and millions of documents reviewed, did you obtain any evidence at all that any american voter changed thei

mr. mueller and mr. zebley resigned at the end of may 2019 when the special counsel's office was closed. both mr. mueller and mr. zebley will be available to answer questions today and will be sworn in consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. their appearance before the committee is in keeping with the long standing practice of receiving testimony from current or former department of justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath and before we begin your testimony, mr. mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn? do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> thank you. the record will reflect the witnesses have been duly sworn. ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chair. i want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we're here to ask director mueller questions. he's here as counsel.

mr. mueller, over here. i'm sorry. mr. mueller, are you familiar with the expired independent counsel statute. it's the statute under which ken starr was appointed? >> what? i'm sorry. >> are you familiar with the independent counsel statute? >> now or previous? >> the one with ken starr was appointed? >> i'm not sure. >> the clinton administration allowed it to expire after ken starr's investigation. the final report was a major reason why the statute was allowed to expire. even president clinton's ag expressed concerns. i'll quote ag reno. she said on one hand the american people have an interest in knowing the outcome of an investigation. on the other hand the report requirement cuts against many of the most basic traditions and practices of american law enforcement. under our system we presume innocence and value privacy. we believe information obtained during a criminal investigation should in most cases be made public only if there's an indictment and prosecution, not any lengthy and detailed report filed after a dec

mr. mueller: good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. two years ago, the acting attorney general asked me to serve as special counsel. and he created the special counsel's office. the appointment order directed the office to investigate russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. this included investigating any links or coordination between the russian government and special counsel's office and as well, i'm resigning from the department of justice to return to private life. i will make a few remarks about the results of our work. remarks, --he fee these a few remarks, it's important that the office's written work speaks for itself. let me begin where the appointment order begins. and that is interference in the 2016 presidential election. as alleged by the grand jury in an indictment, russian intelligence officers, who were part of the russian military launched a concerted attack on , our political system. the indictment alleges they used sophisticated cyber techniques to hack into computers and networks used by the clinton

mueller and his team. and you saw mr. mueller and his agenda, which was to stick with the department of justice ce in this unusual situation for a prosecutor and stick to the four corners of the number two, to defend his team and come across credibly and not give either side a sound byte, which i thk he did as well. and number three, you saw him try to raise the alarm bell about russian interference and those rare moments where he was moved off script and beyond the four corners of the report were all around sounding that alarm bell and russian interference, expressing diseasure and does belief that the president along with others were welcoming foreign interference and pushing back on attacks on his team. w druff: and definitely pushing back on attacks. we heard some of that in the sound byte we playeeaier. mary mccord, he did try to wistick, as john saidin the four corners of the report, but there were these interesting exchanges where he raised his voice in saying the president wasn't completely credible in his swers.

and mr. mueller's testimony this week in front of congress. he said his committee is still considering whether or not to recommend articles of impeachment against president trump. this is half an hour. mr. nadler: good afternoon. i am joined today by many of my colleagues from the house judiciary committee. we want to say a few words about director mueller, what we learned from his testimony and next steps in our work to hold president trump accountable for his conduct. robert mueller is a man of honor and integrity. he has led a life defined by service to his country. some have argued that because director mueller was reluctant to testify and seemed older than some remembered him his work is somehow diminished. it is not. before he ever stepped into our hearing room, the director had rendered our country a great and ecessary public service. he showed through his report and his indictments that the united states was attacked and remains under siege by a foreign adversary. he showed that the trump campaign both welcomed and benefited from this

. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. mueller -- mr. mueller, i'm over here, i'm sorry. are you familiar with the now expired statute, the statute under which ken starr was appointed? >> that ken starr did whether or not? i'm sorry. >> are you familiar with the independent counsel statute. >> are you talking t one we're operating under now or previous. >> under which ken starr was appointed. >> i am not that familiar with that but i'll be happy to ask your question. >> allowed it to expire after ken starr's investigation. the final requirement was the reason the statute was allowed to expire. seen the ag janet reno expressed concerns about the final report requirement. i'll quote ag reno. she said, on one hand the american people have an interest in knowing the outcome of an investigation of their highest officials. on the other hand, the report requirements cuts against many of the most basic traditions and practices of american law enforcement. under our system, we presume innocence, and we value privacy. we believe that information obtained during a criminal investiga

mr. mueller and mr. zebley will be available to answer questions today. they wl be sworn in consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. mr. mueller and mr. zebley's appearance before the committee is in keeping with the committee's long-standing practice of receiving testimony from current or former department of justice and if ib fib personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath and before y we beginr testimony, mr. mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn? zblmp do you swear or affirm thbo the testimony are you a to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> yes. >> thank you. the record will reflect the witnesses have been duly sworn. ranking member. >> thank you, mr. chair. i just want to clarifyhi that t is highly unusual for millir. zy be sworn in. our counsel will not be asking questions. f have concerns about his prior representation oe hillary clinton campaign aide. so i ju

. >> thank you, director mueller. i yield back. >> mr. maloney. >> >> mr. mueller, thank you. i know it's been a long day, and i want to make clear how much respect i have for your service and for your extraordinary career. and i want you to understand my questions in that context, sir. i'm going to be asking you about appendix "c," to your report, and in particular, the decision is not to do a sworn interview with the president. it's really the only subject i want to talk to you about, sir. why didn't you subpoena the president? >> well, at the outset, after we took over and nushted the investigation-- >> if i could as ask you to spek bot microfen. >> of course. at the outset after we took over the investigation, began it, pursued it, quite obviously, one of the things we anticipated wanting to accomplish and that was get ago having the interview of the president. we negotiated with him for a little over a year, and i think what you averted to in the appendix, lays out our expectations as a result of those negotiations. but finally, when it-- we were almost towards the end of

mr. mueller: no. nick: mr. mueller was monosyllabic, but under republican questioning, stated that guidelines prevent sitting president from being investigated, it is possible after they leave office. >> could you charge the president with obstruction of justice after he leaves office? mr. mueller: yes. nick: raising eyebrows from donald trump tonight, whhe claimed that hearings were an epic embarrassment for democrats. pres. trump: this was a very big day for our country, this was a very big day for the republican party can and you could sayit tt s a great day for me but i don't even like to say that. the democrats might n have gotten the box-office dramw the looking for, but from robert mueller, a reminder to donald trump that his legal otoblems have not gone away, that presidential tion from prosecution ends the moment he leaves the white house. nick bryant,bc news, washington. jane: laura, after several hours of hearings, what did we learn the report?t i laura: we learn from robert mueller how concerned he

now, mr. mueller didn't want to be there, all right? he also wanted to bring a deputy to answer certain questions. he lost on both. he's going to be there and he will have a deputy by his side, but only mr. mueller will be the one answering questions. this day has been a long time coming and it is good that it will happen. one democrat you're going to see facing mueller tomorrow is david cicilline. congressman, welcome back. good to have you. >> great to be here. what's your big question? if you've only got one, what would it be? >> fortunately, i don't only have one. but i think i'm very interested to hear the special counsel discuss corey lewandowski and the directive that the president gave -- now, think about this. this is an outside person, not a member of the administration. the president directed corey lewandowski to tell the attorney general of the united states to direct the special counsel to limit his investigation to future presidential elections, not the investigation of the 2016 election. so, effectively, not investigate w

mr. mueller made that clear. today was an important day that the mueller report was spoken to the american people and that the mueller report was let out in all of its fulsome nature. >> do you think what you heard today moved the needle in term of getting support? >> i think it definitely will and to impeach and understand we have an unlawful, lawless president who needs to be reined in. >> why do you think they will change their minds? >> i think because mr. mueller made the clear point that any other person other than a person hiding behind, able to hide behind the justice department policy of not indicting that particular individual because he is above the liaw as long as hes president would be indicted. we have a president who was individual one in southern district of new york and but for a policy of the justice department, he would have been suggested he would be indicted by robert mueller. we have a lawless person in the white house. i thought mr. mueller did an excellent job. i'm in awe of being around h

mr. mueller: no. nick: mr. mueller was monosyllabic, but under republican questioning, stated that guidelines prevent sitting president from being inve after they leave office. >> could you charge the president with obstruction of justice after he leaves office? nick: raising eyebrows from donald trump tonight, who claimed that the hearings were an epic emderrassment for crats. pres. trump: this was a very big day for our counvey, this was a big day for the republican party can and you could say that it is a grt day for me but i don't even like to say that. nick: the democrats might not have gotten the box-office drama they were looking for, but from hibert mueller, a reminder to donald trump thalegal problems have not gone away, that presidential protection from prosecution ends the moment he leaves the white house. nick bryant, bbc news, washington. jane: laura, after several hourf hearings, what did we learn that was not in the report? laura: we learn from robert mueller how concerned he is about the facthat

mr. mueller said that. we answered that today. when they laid out every possibility that they could for obstruction and mr. mueller looked at them said i don't agree with your theory, that should tell you a lot right there. >> you watch the question where he laid that all out? the only new thing that i learned today is that even when doug collins says he's going to speak slower he can't. >> you brought up that she became the prime minister today and indicated he may be somewhat compromised. can you explain what you mean by that? >> it goes back to the origins of this investigation. one of the frustrating things that's not in the report is who he actually is. he's mentioned i think two dozen times, so the point that i was making is that we know he has close ties not only to our own fbi state department western intelligence agencies, he worked at campuses that appear to have some type of relationship with multiple western governments. he taught courses. he was actually right here about 100 feet away in 2017 participating in a progra

mr. mueller, mr. zebley's appearance is in keeping with practice of current or former department of justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. as this hearing is under oath and before we begin your testimony, mr. mueller and mr. zebley please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn. do you wear or affirm the testimony you're about the give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. thank you. the record will reflect that the witness es have been duly sworn. ranking member. >> thank you. i want to clarify this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we're here to ask director mueller questions. he's here with counsel. our side will not be directing any questions to mr. zebley and we have concerns about his prior representation of hillary clinton campaign aide. i want to avoid that concern that we do have. we'll not be addressing any questions to mr. zebley today. >> i thank the ranking member. i realize as probably do mr. zebley there's an angr

one about the performance of mr. mueller. i have nothing but the highest regard for mr. mueller and his life of service to this country. and what i believe we really should be focused on is not the performance of mr. mueller. but the performance or behaviors of this president. obstructing justice. that's the performance you need to be examining. the performance of the trump administration welcoming, walllowing in, interference by russia. the performance of russia interfering with our elections in massive and sweeping ways that will continue and a senate yesterday that did nothing, in fact, blocked attempts to take kear of or protect our elections. those are the performances we need to be looking at. those are the behaviors. trump, his campaign, russia, and obstruction. that's what we need to be looking at. reporter: mr. chairman you've been fighting for the grand jury materials for some time and you've been in a process with the department of justice, they allowed you to view some documents. even in a may letter you said you're not seeking any information or documents th

mr. mueller mr. zebley appears today to keep in common practice -- regarding this open and closed investigative matter. as this hearing is under oath and before we begin your testimony, mr. mueller, would you rise and raise your right hand to be sworn? >> do you square or affirm the testimony you are about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> yes. >> thank you. the record will reflect that the witness have been dually sworn. >> thank you mr. chair. i want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. zebley to be sworn in. we are here to ask director mueller questions. he's here as counsel. our side is not directing any questions to mr. zebley and we have concerns about his prior representation of the hillary clinton campaign aide. i want to voice that concern that we do have and we'll not be addressing any questions to mr. zebley today. >> the ranking member, i realized as probably mr. zebley that there is an angry man down the street that's not happy of you bein

now, mr. mueller didn't want to be there, all right? he also wanted to bring a deputy to answer certain questions. he lost on both. he's going to be there and he will have a deputy by his side, but only mr. mueller will be the one answering questions. this day has been a long time coming and it is good that it will happen. one democrat you're going to see facing mueller tomorrow is david cicilline. congressman, welcome back. good to have you. >> great to be here. what's your big question? if you've only got one, what would it be? >> unfortunately, i don't only have one. but i think i'm very interested to hear the special counsel discuss corey lewandowski and the directive that the president gave -- now, think about this. this is an outside person, not a member of the administration. the president directed corey lewandowski to tell the attorney general of the united states to direct the special counsel to limit his investigation to future presidential elections, not the investigation of the 2016 election. so, effectively, not investigate

mr. mueller's testimony this week in front of congress. he said his committee is still considering whether or not to recommend articles of impeachment against president trump. this is half an hour. >> are we all here? good afternoon. i'm joined today by many of my colleagues from the house judiciary committee. we want to say a few words about director mueller, but we learned from his testimony and next steps in her work to hold president trump accountable or his conduct. robert mueller was a man of honor and integrity. he has led a life defined by service to his country. some have argued, that because director mueller was reluctant to testify, and seemed older than some remember him, his work is somehow diminished. it is not. before he ever stepped foot into her hearing room, the director had rendered our country a great and necessary public service. he showed through his report and his indictment that the united states was attacked and remained under siege by a foreign adversary. he showed that the term campaign both welcomed and benefite

but they know this mueller testimony, while mr. mueller says he will stand by his report, it could go in different directions. i want to see republicans on capitol hill question the investigation itself. they also know democrats are prepared, because everything is on the line for many of these congressional democrats, the house democrats who know that this will determine whether they move toward impeachment or not. they're looking for mr. mueller to give them political and legal ammunition. >> and, robert, help us back up to what we heard the president say when he came on the air. he repeated that mueller found no collusion, no obstruction, not true. again, i've asked you this probably six times on the air. this notion that mueller is conflicted, the president cites, comey is his best friend. the president cites he wanted the fbi job. the president cites some business conflict that we know has to do with the golf club. can you lay out what finally is this business of mueller being conflicted? >> the best way to answer that question

>> no, i think that's why mr. mueller will be an excellent witness. i think people recognize he's a person of extra ordinary integrity and thoughtful andda remember deb lib rid. he was a great patriot to take on this responsibility. this was an important investigation about the attack of our democracy but russians and the coverup and his responsibility is to share the conclusions of this report with the american people. it a proceeding that will be serious where i think people understand the gravity of this moment but again, i think what he will reveal is really damming evidence about this president engaged in specific acts that would constitute obstruction of justice for any other person except the president of the united states because of the olc opinions saying a sitting president can't be charged. >> congressman, if you would, stay with us. i want to bring in kerry and julian epstein that served as chief counsel during the clinton impeachment. i know you have some -- julian, i know you have questions for the congressman. >> congressman, this is ca

mueller and his team. and you saw mr. mueller and his agenda, which was to stick with othe departmejustice guidance in this unusual situation for a prosecutor and stick to the fourorners of the report. number two, to defend his team and come across credibly and not give either side a sound byte, which i think he did as well. and numb three, you saw him try to raise the alarm bell about russian interference and those rare moments where he was moved off script and beyond the four corners of the report were all around sounding that alarm bell aussian interference, expressing displeasure and does belief that thpresident along with others were welcoming foreign interferee and pushing back on attacks on his team. >> woodruff: and defitel pushing back on attacks. we heard some of that in the sound byte we played earlier. mary mccd, he did try to stick, as john said, within the four corners of the report, but there were these interesting changes where he raised his voice in saying the president wasn't completely credible in his a

one about the performance of mr. mueller. i have nothing but the highest regard for mr. mueller and his life of service to this country. and what i believe we really should be focused on is not the performance of mr. mueller. but the performance or behaviors of this president. obstructing justice. that's the performance you need to be examining. the performance of the trump administration welcoming, walllowing in, interference by russia. the performance of russia interfering with our elections in massive and sweeping ways that will continue and a senate yesterday that did nothing, in fact, blocked attempts to take kear of or protect our elections. those are the performances we need to be looking at. those are the behaviors. trump, his campaign, russia, and obstruction. that's what we need to be ooking at. reporter: mr. chairman you've been fighting for the grand jury materials for some time and you've been in a process with the department of justice, they allowed you to view some documents. even in a may letter you said you're not seeking any information or documents tha

and mr. mueller says i disagree with your interpretation. there was agreement that there was foreign interference in our 2016 election. it -- is the answer to bring no solutions forward? they want to paint a picture of a president they despise. someone asked me yesterday, how did you prepare? i did not have to worry about it because that is all we talk about. isrything we come up with dog and show -- dog and pony shows. the american people are footing the bill. the question i have, if we are going to paint a picture, let's take the picture of what has happened. you have a democratic majority who has no agenda. mr. mueller has done his job and he presented a report. someone asked if he found anything new. the answer is no. mr. mueller simply said what was in the report. collusion and conspiracy are over. that is why we are fighting for real solutions instead of the continuation of the show. that is what was painted today. between the republican party and the trump campaign is over. there was no evidence. you had collusion through a agent whor

mr. mueller tried for almost, over a year to get the president to come and testify. he did not. i would not be the case of a constitutional proceeding. >> [inaudible question] >> that is a prerogative on a calling today. i assure you as this hearing is further analyzed, you will find that the elements dealing with staff to life, dealing with interfering with witnesses, dealing with the question of dangling of interfering with a witness, dealing with attorney general to unreduced herself, ask yourself the question, if any other president had done these acts, what a preceding not be in place. i would argue that we are doing get the right way, building the building blocks for people to fully comprehend. then we answer the fact of the outright involvement of russians and the active participation of the president campaign with those individuals. i cannot imagine we would accept this as the new norm of the presidency of the u.s. >> [inaudible question] >> the strategy of questioning or the approach of questioning was to solicit the truth. if we solicit the truth in a manner of present

thank you. >> mr. mueller, first of all let me welcome you. thank you for your service to our country. you're a hero. vietnam war vet. wounded war vet. we won't forget your service to our country. >> thank you, sir. >> i may begin because of time limits we've gone in depth only on five possible episodes of obstruction. there's so much more. and i want the focus on another section of obstruction which is the president's conduct concerning michael flynn. the president's national security adviser. in early 27, the informed that mr. flynn had lied to government authorities about his communications with the russian ambassador during the trump campaign in transition. is this correct? >> correct. >> if a hostile nation knows that a u.s. official has lied publicly, that can be used to blackmail that government official, correct? >> i'm not going to speak to that. i don't agree necessarily but i'm not going to speak any more to that issue. >> thank you. flynn resigned in 2016. the very next day when the president was having lunch with new jersey govern

mr. mueller, let me move on in the interest of time. in learning upon the appointment of the special counsel, donald trump stated to the attorney general, oh, my god, this is terrible. this is the end of my presidency, i'm f'd, is that correct? >> correct. >> is it fair to say that he viewed the investigation into conduct as adverse to his own interest? >> i think that's generally true. >> the investigation found evidence quote, that the president knew that he should not have directed don mcgahn to fire the special counsel, correct? >> and where do you have that quote? >> page 90, volume two. there's evidence that the president knew he should not have made those calls to mcgahn, closed quote. >> i see that, yes. that's accurate. >> the investigation also found substantial evidence that president trump repeatedly urgeled mcgahn to dispute that he was having the special counsel terminated, correct? >> correct. >> the investigation found substantial evidence that when the president ordered don mcgahn to fire the special counsel and then li

mueller's compliance. mr. mueller made clear that he did not suggest the president should be indicted or wasn't indicted because of the olc's opinion that he cannot be indicted. that's pretty much exculpatory evidence when you put that in. we are not indicting him because we can't do it, not because we didn't find evidence of criminal activity, and if we did we would have said so. and secondly, the question about his closeness to mr. rosenstein and mr. comey, he was also close to mr. barr, so maybe mr. barr should not have taken the job. although existing regulations covering the apartment the removal of the special counsel already provides some limitations on removal of the attorney general, those can be rescinded or modified because they are the attorney general's regulations. they can modify those protections against unwanted removal. the chair has introduced a bill, hr 197 that's called a special counsel independence and integrity act, which was codified as protections and would permit special counsel who

mr. mueller came here today and actually for anybody who wants to separate collusion and conspiracy we put that to rest today, that is the synonymous term and even in his report he said those all the accusations out there that said there is collusion in plain sight there is all this out there, we put that to rest today. painting a picture. they try to paint a picture today about putting up slides and then talking about obstruction and going through these different acts and even putting green tech marks beside it and when asked about it he says i disagree with your theory. or your interpretation. when we go through this, what we are seeing is in my committee is really interesting because it was agreement on the one thing that there was russian and foreign interference in our 2016 election. the what has been the answer for my committee and by majority in my chairman? to bring no bill forward, to bring those solutions forward. in fact all we want to do is paint a picture of a president that

were you ever fired, mr. mueller? were you ever fired as special counsel, mr. mueller? >> no. >> no. were you allowed to complete your investigation unencumbered? >> yes. >> and, in fact, you resigned as special counsel when you closed up the office in late may 2019, is that correct? >> that's correct. >> thank you. mr. mueller, on april 18th the attorney general held a press conference in conjunction with the public release of your report. did attorney general barr say anything inaccurate either in his press conference or his march 24th letter to congress summarizing the principled conclusions of your report? >> well, what you are not mentioning is the letter we sent on march 27th to mr. barr that raised some issues. and that letter speaks for itself. >> but then i don't see how you could -- that could be since a.g. barr's letter detailed the principle conclusions of your report and you have said before that there wasn't anything inaccurate. in fact, you have this joint statement. but let me go on to another question. mr. mueller, rather than purely relying on the evid

when mr. mueller testified on that. yesterday the senate intelligence committee released a bipartisan report showing that the election systems in all 50 states were targeted by russia. yet the president calls this a hoax. and senator mcconnell refuses to act. just the other day in the senate, there were a number of bills, one of ours, the safe act, that would save our federal elections act, that the republicans objected to bringing to the floor. this is about patriotism for our country. our electoral system is the heart of the matter of our democracy. and yet the republicans still continue to say no need to protect that. the path that we have is one that respects that the states manage our elections, but when it comes to federal elections, we want them to have the resources to do their job well. so we will continue to legislate on that score. legislate, investigate, and litigate. on that, on other issues mr. mueller testified to as well. yesterday on steps of the capitol, perhaps you were there, we celebrated the 200 da

when mr. mueller testified on that. yesterday the senate intelligence committee released a bipartisan report showing that the election systems in all 50 states were targeted by russia. yet the president calls this a hoax. and senator mcconnell refuses o act. just the other day in the senate, there were a number of bills, one of ours, the safe act, that would save our federal elections act, that the republicans objected to bringing to the floor. this is about patriotism for our country. our electoral system is the heart of the matter of our democracy. and yet the republicans still continue to say no need to protect that. the path that we have is one that respects that the states manage our elections, but when it comes to federal elections, we want them to have the resources to do their job well. so we will continue to legislate on that score. legislate, investigate, and itigate. on that, on other issues mr. mueller testified to as well. yesterday on steps of the capitol, perhaps you were there, we celebrated the 200 days

mueller was requested by mr. mueller and the current attorney general confirmed that yesterday to fox news on the streets of new york city. >> as you know, it's press conference bob had said he intended to stick with the public report and not go beyond that and in conversations with the department, his staff was reiterating that that was their position and they asked us for guidance in writing to explain or tell them what our position was so we responded in writing that the department that the guidance they requested. brian: mueller requested - he requested guidance but is not me to get a question for example, how do you feel about attorney general bars statement prior to the leasing of your report? how do you feel that that letter properly represented with that report was about and that would be something i imagine, he could answer without having an attorney present. ainsley: media was up in arms saying i can't believe the attorney general sent robert mueller a letter telling him what to say and then . brian: oh

mr. mueller, you concluded they did. and disseminated sense tv information by tricking campaign insiders into revealing protected information. the investigation also reviewed whether donald trump the president sought russian assistance as a candidate to win the presidency. mr. mueller concluded he did not. his family or advisers did not. in fact the report no one in the campaign colluded or conspired with the russians. the president watched the narrative surrounding this investigation and assumed his guilt while he knew the extent of his innocence. volume 2 of mueller's report details the act of his investigation where his innocence was established early on. the president's attitude towards the investigation was understandably negative. yet the president did not use his authority to close the investigation. he asked his lawyer if mr. mueller had conflicts that disqualified mr. mueller from the job, but he did not shutdown the investigation. the president knew he was innocent. those are the facts of the mueller report. ru