National Post (National Edition)
‘It was not a witch hunt’
Mueller’s most forceful testimony in the morning session came in defence of his staff in the special counsel’s office. Trump and his supporters have attacked the prosecutors on the case as “angry Democrats” embarked on a “witch hunt” to bring down the president.
“I’ve been in this business for almost 25 years. In those 25 years I’ve not had occasion once to ask about somebody’s political affiliation,” Mueller said. “It is not done. What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job seriously and quickly and with integrity.”
Mueller later added: “It was not a witch hunt.”
The most potentially newsworthy statement Mueller made in his morning testimony came in response to a question from Democrat Ted Lieu who asked if the reason Mueller did not indict the president was because of a Justice Department policy memo by the Office of Legal Counsel that bars indictment of a sitting president.
“That is correct,” Mueller answered. That statement went far beyond what Mueller had said in his report, which said prosecutors took pains not to decide whether or not the president had committed a crime, due to the OLC position.
Democrats quickly seized on Mueller’s answer, which he promptly rescinded as soon as a second hearing started in the afternoon before the Intelligence Committee. “That is not the correct way to say it,” Mueller said of his earlier answer. “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.”
His reluctance to elaborate on any topic seemed to stem from more than just his previously stated desire to avoid the hearing altogether.
He frequently asked lawmakers to repeat their questions. At times he said he could not hear them, sometimes asserting they were speaking too fast. In contrast to his inquisitors, Mueller spoke slowly, and on a few occasions seemed confused by lawmakers’ inquiries.
For a prosecutor who built a distinguished career on digging deep into the weeds of investigations, to the point that many of his subordinates complained he was a maddening micromanager, Mueller said several times he was not familiar with some of the specifics of the investigation into Russia’s actions in 2016 and whether Trump obstructed justice.
He called the president “Trimp,” before quickly correcting himself. At another moment, he said he was “not familiar” with the opposition research firm Fusion GPS that commissioned a dossier of allegations that played a key role in the early days of the investigation into Russian interference, before Mueller was appointed as special counsel.
In the hearing room, Mueller’s muffled voice made his minimal responses nearly inaudible, a sharp contrast to the lawmakers whose voices often boomed with indignation.
David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted: “This is delicate to say, but Mueller, whom I deeply respect, has not publicly testified before Congress in at least six years. And he does not appear as sharp as he was then.” Before the hearing, current and former law enforcement officials who have worked with Mueller, 74, expressed concerns that he was stepping into a high-octane hearing that would be a tough test of his public demeanour — typically understated and technical. Mueller’s advisers had told committee staff before the hearing he did not plan to read sections of the report out loud, according to people familiar with the discussion.
Part of Mueller’s approach appeared strategic — with so many sensitive investigative areas that he was unwilling to talk about, the less he engaged on those subjects, the easier his time at the witness table might pass. When Republicans charged that the genesis of the Russia investigation was hopelessly tainted by anti-Trump bias among some of the investigators, Mueller declined to discuss the issue, saying those matters are under review by the Justice Department inspector general, and therefore beyond his purview.
At other times, Mueller’s approach seemed particularly ill-suited for a nationally televised interrogation by dozens of lawmakers rushing to pose as many questions as possible in the five minutes they were each allotted.
Democratic congressman Greg Stanton caused an awkward moment for Mueller by trying to praise him. When Stanton asked which president nominated Mueller to serve as the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, Mueller guessed George H.W. Bush. It was Ronald Reagan.
Republicans quickly seized on the issue. Matt Schlapp, a key Trump ally, tweeted: “Devastating Mueller can’t remember that Reagan picked him to be a USA from Massachusetts.” As the morning hearing wore on, Republicans outside the hearing room repeatedly suggested Mueller’s answers showed a poor command of the cases he oversaw.
But Mueller still made some politically charged comments.
“The president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed,” the former special counsel said early in the hearing.
“Did you actually totally exonerate the president?” asked the committee chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler. “No,” Mueller replied. Asked if the president, under Justice Department policy, could potentially be prosecuted for obstruction of justice after he leaves office, Mueller responded: “True.”
Republicans accused Mueller of being unfair to the president and ignoring the traditional presumption of innocence. Republican John Ratcliffe, noting that Mueller’s report said it could not exonerate the president, said it was a prosecutor’s job to charge or not charge someone — not make a statement about exoneration.
“This is a unique situation,” said Mueller, who pointed time and again to a long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted. Mueller’s team concluded the policy also prohibits the Justice Department from saying whether a sitting president committed a crime.
Before the hearing even began, the president attacked Mueller on Twitter, calling the investigation “illegal and treasonous attack on our country,” and calling himself “a very innocent President.”