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LIVE: Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill at blockbuster hearing
LIVE: Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill at blockbuster hearing
Sonam ShethJul 24, 2019, 18:26 IST
Former special counsel Robert Mueller arrives to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2019, before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on his report on Russian election interference. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Associated Press
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The former special counsel Robert Mueller appeared before Congress on Wednesday for a blockbuster hearing on his findings in the FBI's Russia investigation.
Mueller's team was conspicuously silent during its 22-month-long investigation of Russia's election interference, whether members of President Donald Trump's campaign conspired with Moscow, and if Trump sought to obstruct justice throughout the course of the probe.
Wednesday's hearing is the second time Mueller has spoken out publicly about the investigation.
The former special counsel Robert Mueller appeared before Congress on Wednesday for a historic hearing on his findings in the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election, and whether President Donald Trump sought to obstruct justice throughout the course of the investigation.
According to a lightly redacted version of Mueller's report that was released to the public in April, Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to charge Trump or anyone on his campaign with conspiracy related to Russia's meddling.
He declined to make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether Trump obstructed justice, but his team emphasized that if they had confidence the president did not commit a crime, they would have said so.
Mueller's report also implied that the remedy for accusing a sitting president of wrongdoing does not come from the Justice Department, but from Congress.
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Since then, congressional Democrats have launched a sprawling effort to investigate Trump for potential wrongdoing, and Democratic aides told INSIDER this week that their main objective with Wednesday's hearing is to drum up public support for Trump's impeachment.
Mueller says he will not address questions about the origins of the Russia probe or the Steele dossier.
Mueller also emphasized that he will not address questions related to the origins of the Russia investigation or the so-called Steele dossier, an explosive collection of memos alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
"The report is my testimony, and I will stay within the text," Mueller said.
He added, "I will not comment on the actions of the attorney general or of congress. I was appointed as a prosecutor, and I intend to adhere to that role and the department standards that govern it."
Mueller: "My staff and I carried out this assignment with that critical objective in mind: to work quietly, thoroughly, and with integrity so that the public would have full confidence in the outcome."
Mueller began his opening statement by establishing that his investigation was conducted thoroughly and fairly.
"My staff and I carried out this assignment with that critical objective in mind: to work quietly, thoroughly, and with integrity so that the public would have full confidence in the outcome," he said.
Republicans say they will use the hearing to question Mueller about the origins of the Russia investigation.
Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member on the committee, hinted that Republicans will use the hearing to question Mueller about the origins of the Russia investigation.
The DOJ's inspector general is also currently investigating the matter, and Attorney General William Barr said earlier this year that the results of that investigation will be released sometime this summer.
"Those results will be released, and we will need to learn from them to ensure the government's intelligence and law enforcement powers are never again turned on a private citizen or political candidate as the result of the political leanings of a handful of FBI agents," Collins said.
