Nadler says Mueller hearing to air evidence of Trump wrongdoing

WASHINGTON >> The House Judiciary Committee chairman said Sunday that this week’s hearing with Robert Mueller will air “very substantial evidence” of wrongdoing by President Donald Trump and make a public case for impeachment. Republicans pledged sharp questioning of the special counsel about what they see as a “one-sided” Russia investigation.

Days before back-toback hearings Wednesday, both sides seemed to agree that Mueller’s testimony could be pivotal in shifting public opinion on the question of “holding the president accountable.”

“This is a president who has violated the law 6 ways from Sunday,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

He argued that Mueller’s report lays out “very substantial evidence” that Trump is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” the constitutional standard for impeachment.

“We have to present — or let Mueller present — those facts to the American people ... because the administration must be held accountable and no president can be above the law,” Nadler said.

The House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee will question Mueller in separate hearings on his 448-page report released in April. While the report did not find sufficient evidence to establish charges of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to swing the election, it said Trump could not be cleared of trying to obstruct the investigation . But Mueller believed Trump couldn’t be indicted in part because of a Justice Department opinion against prosecuting a sitting president.

Mueller has said he doesn’t intend to speak beyond the findings of the report in congressional hearings.

Still, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee plan to focus on a narrow set of episodes laid out in the report to direct Americans’ attention to what they see as the most egregious examples of Trump’s conduct, which point to obstruction of justice.

The examples include Trump’s directions to then White House counsel Donald McGahn to have Mueller removed and, later, orders from Trump to McGahn to deny that happened. Democrats also will focus questioning on a series of meetings Trump had with former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in which the Republican president directed Lewandowski to persuade then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mueller’s investigation.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the committee, argued that “any thought of impeachment is waning” and that the American public has moved on. He said Republicans will be focused in their questioning on making clear that the Mueller report represents a “final episode” in the Russia probe, which he described as flawed.

“Remember, the Mueller report is a one-sided report. It has not been questioned from the other side. This is our chance to do that,” Collins said.