WASHINGTON (CN) – Roundly ignoring conspiracy-theory bait by Republicans, former special counsel Robert Mueller closed out his testimony before Congress on Wednesday with pointed criticism of President Donald Trump’s penchant for praising WikiLeaks.
“Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays in terms of giving some hope, or I don’t know, some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” Mueller said this afternoon in a nearly three-hour appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.
Earlier Wednesday, in a stint before the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller was more cautious in explaining his decision not to indict Trump on obstruction of justice.
“We investigated a series of actions by the president toward the investigation and, 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,” Mueller said. “That was our decision then and that remains our decision today.”
Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, wasted little time teasing out the former special counsel’s position on claims by both the president and some GOP lawmakers that the probe was a hoax.
“Absolutely, it was not a hoax,” Mueller said. “The indictments we returned on certain [entities] were substantial. What we have underplayed here is that aspect of our investigation. It had and will have long-term damage to the United States that we need to move quickly to address.”
All told, Mueller’s two-year investigation produced seven guilty pleas and 34 indictments against both individuals and three companies.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler asked Mueller pointedly at the start of the morning session whether Mueller’s report exonerated Trump, a claim the president has made repeatedly.
“Is that what your report said? That it did not exonerate the president?” Nadler asked.
“That is correct, yes,” Mueller said.
Nadler also asked Mueller if he would be able to go public were he to have concluded that the president committed a crime of obstruction.
Mueller repeated a statement he offered in May.
“The statement would be that you would not indict because under the Office of Legal Counsel, a sitting president cannot be indicted,” Mueller said.
Mueller vaulted questions about the start of the FBI's Russia investigation, which began months before his July 2017 appointment, but methodically outlined his probe's key takeaways.
He said investigation did not establish that Trump campaign members conspired with the Russian government on election-interference activities, and he called out “a matter of critical importance" that members of the campaign were found to have obstructed the investigation and lied to investigators.