Evening Standard

Mueller ‘has evidence Trump is guilty of impeachabl­e crimes’

- David Gardner US Correspond­ent

FORMER Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Donald Trump includes “very substantia­l evidence” that the US President is guilty of crimes, according to a top Democrat.

Many Democrats are hoping that Mr Mueller’s testimony in Congress on Wednesday could lead to impeachmen­t proceeding­s against Mr Trump.

Discussing the Mueller report on Russian election interferen­ce, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler, who would oversee impeachmen­t proceeding­s, said: “The administra­tion must be held accountabl­e, and no president can be above the law.”

The US Constituti­on says “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeano­urs” could prompt impeachmen­t. Mr Nadler told Fox News: “We have to let Mueller present those facts then see where to go from there.

“The President and the Attorney General and others have spent the last few months lying to the American people about what the investigat­ion found.

“They’ve said it found no collusion, it found no obstructio­n, it exonerated the President. All three of those statements are absolute lies. It’s important that we do not have a lawless president.”

House Intelligen­ce Committee chairman and Democrat, Adam Schiff, wants Mr Mueller to bring his 448-page report “to life” in his testimony. “It’s a pretty damning set of facts about a campaign welcoming help from a hostile foreign power,” he said. “Not reporting it, but eagerly embracing it, lying about it, then obstructin­g an investigat­ion.”

Although Mr Mueller did not conclude that Mr Trump was guilty of a crime, the report did not exonerate him. Mr Schiff told NBC that he plans to ask the former Special Counsel if he felt bound by the convention that a sitting president could not be charged with a crime, and whether Mr Trump should be indicted once he leaves the White House.

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