Donald Trump

"I agree with your March 27th letter. There was public confusion, and the President took full advantage of that confusion by falsely claiming your report found no obstruction. Let us be clear, your report did not exonerate the President. Instead, it provided substantial evidence of obstruction of justice, leaving Congress to do its duty. We shall... not shrink from that duty."

"That actually is... from page 1 of Volume 2. In the footnote... What are those constitutional processes?"

"...May 30th, the Attorney General in an interview with CBS News said that... you "could have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity"... on the part of the President. Did the Attorney General or his staff ever tell you that he thought you should make a decision on whether the President engaged in criminal activity?"

"[C]ould Attorney General Barr have avoided public confusion if he had released your... executive introduction and summaries?"

"What was it about the report's context, nature, substance, that the attorney general's letter did not capture?"

"Continuing with your letter, you wrote to the Attorney General that... "The summary letter... the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24th did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work and conclusions."... Is that correct?"

"I wanted to ask you about public confusion connected with Attorney General Barr's release of your report. I will be quoting your March 27th letter. ...[I]n that letter and at several other times, did you convey to the Attorney General, that the... "Introductions and Executive Summaries of our two volume report accurately summarized this Office's work and conclusions."?"

"[Y]ou're a patriot. And [it's] clear to me in reading you report, and listening to your testimony today, you acted fairly and with restraint. There were circumstances where you could have filed charges against other people mentioned in the report, but you declined. Not every prosecutor does that, certainly not one on a witch hunt. The attacks made against you and your team intensified, because your report is damning, and I believe you did uncover substantial evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors. Let me also say something else that you are right about. The only remedy for this situation, is for Congress to take action."

"In your entire career as a law enforcement official, have you ever made a hiring decision based upon a person's political affiliation?"

"The origins and conclusions of the Mueller investigation are the same things: what it means to be American. Every American has a voice in our democracy. We must protect the sanctity of their voice by combating election interference. Every American enjoys the presumption of innocence and guarantee of due process. If we carry... anything away today, it must be that we increase our vigilance against foreign election interference, while we ensure our government officials don't weaponize their power against the constitutional rights guaranteed to every U.S. citizen."

"Some people have attacked the political motivations of your team, even suggested your investigation was a witch hunt. When you considered people to join your team, did you ever, even once, ask about their political affiliation?"

"When you were asked in 2017 to take the job as Special Counsel, the President had just fired FBI Director James Comey. The Justice Department and the FBI were in turmoil. You must have known there would be an extraordinary challenge. Why did you accept?"

"And you were sworn in as Director just one week before the September 11th attacks. You helped to protect this nation against another attack. You did such an outstanding job that when your 10-year term expired, the Senate unanimously voted to extend your term for another 2 years, correct?"

"Since closing the special counsel's office in May of 2019, have you conducted any additional interviews or obtained any new information in your role as special counsel? ...Have you conducted any new interviews, any new witnesses, anything?"

"And the Senate confirmed you with a vote of 98 to 0, correct?"

"When you were named Director of the FBI, which President first appointed you?"

"...After that you took a job at a prestigious law firm, and after only a couple of years, you did something extraordinary. You left that lucrative position to re-enter public service, prosecuting homicides here in Washington, D.C. Is that correct?"

"So that would be a yes."

"Which President appointed you to become the United States Attorney for Massachusetts? ...President Ronald Reagan had the honor to do so. ...Under whose administration did you serve as the assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ's criminal division?"

"I'm disappointed that some have questioned your motives throughout this process, and I want to take a moment to remind the American people of who you are, and your exemplary service to our country. You are a Marine. You served in Vietnam and earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, correct?"

"[I]n less than two years your team was able to uncover an incredible amount of information related to Russia's attack on our elections, and to obstruction of justice, and there is still more that we have to learn. Despite facing unfair attacks by the President, and even here today, your work has been substantive and fair. The work has laid the critical foundation for our investigation, and for that I thank you..."

"And there are many other charges as well, correct?"

"And the sixth Trump associate will face... trial later this year. ...And that person would be Roger Stone. Correct?"

"Your investigations of the Russian attack on our democracy and of obstruction of justice were extraordinarily productive and in under two years you charged at least 37 people or entities with crimes. You convicted seven individuals, five of whom are top Trump campaign or White House aides. Charges remain pending against more than two dozen Russian persons or entities and against others. Now let me start with those five Trump campaign or administration aides that you convicted. Would you agree with me that they are Paul Manafort, President Trump's campaign manager; Rick Gates, President Trump's deputy campaign manager; , President Trump's former National Security Advisor; Michael Cohen, the President's personal attorney; , President Trump's former campaign foreign policy advisor? Correct?"

"Despite knowing that to be untrue."

"[Y]ou can't find it because... It doesn't exist. The special counsel's job... Nowhere does it say that you were to conclusively determine Donald Trump's innocence, or that the special counsel report should determine whether or not to exonerate him. It's not in any of the documents. It's not in your appointment order. It's not in the special counsel regulations. It's not in the OLC opinions. It's not in the Justice Manual, and it's not in the Principles of Federal Prosecution. Nowhere do those words appear together, because... it was not the special counsel's job to conclusively determine Donald Trump's innocence, or to exonerate him, because the bedrock principle of our justice system is a presumption of innocence. It exists for everyone. Everyone is entitled to it including sitting Presidents. And because there is a presumption of innocence, prosecutors never - ever need to conclusively determine it. Now... the special counsel applied this inverted burden of proof, that I can't find, and you said doesn't exist anywhere in the department policies; and you used it to write a report; and the very first line of your report... says, as you read this morning, it "authorizes the special counsel to provide the attorney general with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the special counsel." That's the very first word of your report, right?"

"And according to Ms. Hicks, the President still directed her to say the meeting was only about Russian adoption. Correct?"

"Did the President direct Ms. Hicks to say... "Only that Trump Jr. took a brief meeting and it was about Russian adoption"... because Trump Jr.'s statement to The New York Times... "said too much" according to page 102, of Volume 2?"

"And the reason was, because of those emails which the President... believed "would not leak." Correct?"

"Mr. Chabot and I were on this committee during the Clinton impeachment. Now, while I recognize that the independent counsel statute under which Kenneth Starr operated is different from the special counsel statute, he, in a number of occasions in his report, stated that... "President Clinton's actions may have risen to impeachable conduct," recognizing that it is up to the House of Representatives to determine what conduct is impeachable. You never used the term "raising to impeachable conduct" for any of the 10 instances... Is it true that there's nothing in Volume 2 of the report that says that the President may have engaged in impeachable conduct?"

"Isn't it true that Ms. Hicks told your office that she went multiple times to the President to... "urge him that they should be fully transparent about the June 9th meeting,"... but the President, each time, said No. correct?"

"Appendix C, specifically C13 states as much. According to page 100 of Volume 2 of your report, your investigation found that , the President's communications director, in June of 2017, was shown emails that set up the , and she told your office that she was... "shocked by the emails" because they looked... "really bad." True? ...While you're flipping to that page... I will also tell you that according to page 99 of Volume 2... those emails in question stated, according to your report, that the crown prosecutor of Russia had offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia, as part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump. Trump Jr. responded, "if it's what you say, I love it. And he, Kushner, and Manafort, met with the Russian attorneys and several other Russian individuals at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016"... Correct?"

"You did pose written questions to the President about his knowledge of the Trump Tower meeting. You... also asked him about whether or not he had directed a false press statement. The President did not answer... that question, correct?"

"Fusion GPS produced the opposition research document... widely known as the Steele dossier, and the owner of Fusion GPA [sic Fusion GPS] was... Glenn Simpson. Are... are you familiar with..."

"Did Mr. Trump Jr. or his counsel ever communicate to your office any intent to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination?"

"I'd like to talk to you about one of the other incidents of obstruction, and that's the evidence in your report showing the President directing his son and his communications director to issue a false public statement in June of 2017 about a meeting between his campaign and Russian individuals at Trump Tower in June of 2016. According to your report, Mr. Trump Jr. was the only Trump associate who participated in that meeting... who declined to be voluntarily interviewed by your office. Is that correct?"

"Not you, not the Congress, and certainly not the President, and I think it's just troubling to have to hear some of these things, and that's why the American people deserve to learn the full facts of the misconduct described in your report, for which any other person would have been charged with crimes. ....No one is above the law. ..."

"Well, that's the point, though, isn't it that no one is above the law."

"[L]et's put it more specific. What if I had made a false statement to an investigator on your team. Could I go to jail for up to five years?"

"[T]he President denied ever discussing future WikiLeaks releases with Stone and denied knowing whether anyone else in his campaign had those discussions with Stone. If you had learned that other witnesses, putting aside the President,.. had lied to your investigators in response to specific questions whether... in writing or in interview, could they be charged with false statement crimes?"

"Mr. Stone's indictment states among other things... "Stone was contacted by senior Trump officials to inquire about future releases of organization 1", organization 1 being . The indictment continues... "Stone thereafter told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by WikiLeaks". So... the indictment alleges that Stone was asked by the Trump campaign to get information about more WikiLeaks releases, and that Stone in fact did tell the Trump campaign about potential future releases. Correct?"

"I would like to ask you about the President's answers relating to Roger Stone. Roger Stone was indicted for multiple federal crimes and [the] indictment alleges that Mr. Stone discussed future WikiLeaks e-mail releases with the Trump campaign. Understanding there's a gag order on the Stone case, I will keep my questions restricted to publicly available information. Mr. Stone's indictment..."

"Is it fair then, that the President denied knowledge of himself or anyone else [in his campaign] discussing WikiLeaks dumps with Mr. Stone?"

"[I]n Appendix C, where the President did answer some written questions, he said... "I do not recall discussing WikiLeaks with him, nor do I recall being aware of Mr. Stone having discussed WikiLeaks with individuals associated with my campaign".... Is that correct?"

"[O]n page 77 of Volume 2... "In addition, some witnesses said that Trump privately sought information about future WikiLeak releases".... Is that correct?"

"Actually, it goes to your credibility and maybe you've been away from the court room for a while. Credibility is always relevant. It's always material, and that goes for you, too. You're a witness before us."

"[P]age 18 of Volume 2... According to Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Gates, in the summer of 2016, he and Candidate Trump were on the way to an airport, shortly after WikiLeaks released its first set of stolen e-mails. And Gates told your investigators that Candidate Trump was on a phone call, and when the call ended, "Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming."... Do you recall that from the report?"

"In February of this year, Mr. Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen testified to Congress under oath that... "Mr. Trump knew from Roger Stone in advance about the WikiLeaks dump."... That's a matter of public record, isn't it?"

"Appendix C, page 5, you asked the President about a dozen questions about whether he had knowledge that WikiLeaks possessed the stolen emails that might be released in a way helpful to his campaign, or harmful to the Clinton campaign. Is that correct, you asked those questions?"

"So the only answers we have to questions from the President are contained in Appendix C to your report."