| Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the “Office of Special Counsel’s investigation |
Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified on Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives about his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and any possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump.
Below are highlights from his comments to the first hearing before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. He is scheduled to testify later before the House intelligence panel.
“I undertook that role [as special counsel] because I believed that it was of paramount interest to the nation to determine whether a foreign adversary had interfered in the presidential election … 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. It is unusual for a prosecutor to testify about a criminal investigation, and given my role as a prosecutor, there are reasons why my testimony will necessarily be limited.”
“During the course of our investigation, we charged more than 30 defendants with committing federal crimes, including 12 officers of the Russian military. Seven defendants have been convicted or pled guilty.”
“First, our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion.
“Second, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities. We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term. Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not.
“Third, our investigation of efforts to obstruct the investigation and lie to investigators was of critical importance …
“Finally, as described in Volume 2 of our report, we investigated a series of actions by the president towards the investigation. Based on Justice Department policy and principles of fairness, we decided we would not make a determination as to whether the President committed a crime. That was our decision then and it remains our decision today.”
“It is unusual for a prosecutor to testify about a criminal investigation … I therefore will not be able to answer questions about certain areas that I know are of public interest. For example, I am unable to address questions about the opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called Steele Dossier … Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed to the FBI or the Justice Department.”
“I do not intend to summarize or describe the results of our work in a different way in the course of my testimony today. As I said on May 29: the report is my testimony.”
REUTERS