Donald Trump

"[B]ut you're here testifying about this investigation today, and I am asking you directly did any members of your team or did you interview Christopher Steele in the course of your investigation."

"You had two years to investigate. Not once did you consider it worthy to investigate how an unverified document, that was paid for by a political opponent, was used to obtain a warrant to spy on the opposition political campaign. Did you do any investigation into that whatsoever?"

"What would... be your characterization?"

"The FISA application makes reference to Source One, who is Christopher Steele, the author of the Steele Dossier. The FISA application says nothing [about] Source 1's reason for conducting the research into Candidate One's ties to Russia, based on Source One's previous reporting history with the FBI, whereby Source One provided reliable information to the FBI. The FBI believes Source One's reporting herein to be credible. Do you believe the FBI's representation that Source One's reporting was credible, to be accurate?"

"[Y]ou're not going to respond to any of the questions regarding or your interviews with him?"

"I don't understand how, if you interviewed an individual on the purview of this investigation, that you're testifying to us today that you've closed that investigation, how that's not within your purview to tell us about that investigation, and who you interviewed."

"[T]he American people want to know, and... I'm very hopeful and glad that A.G. Barr is looking into this, and the Inspector General is looking into this, because you're unwilling to answer the questions of the American people, as it relates to the very basis of this investigation into the President, and the very basis of this individual who you did interview. You're just refusing to answer those questions. [C]an't the President fire the FBI director at any time without reason, under... Article I of the Constitution?"

"Article II?"

"Can't he also fire U.S. Special Counsel at any time without any reason?"

"[Y]ou've testified that you weren't fired, you were able to complete your investigation in full. Is that correct?"

"...How many people on your staff did you fire during the course of the investigation?"

"...[A]ccording to Inspector General's report, attorney number two was let go, and we know was let go, correct?"

"Peter Strzok testified before this Committee on July 12, 2018 that... he was fired at least partially because you were... concerned about preserving the appearance of independence with the special counsel's investigation. Do you agree with that statement?"

"Did you fire him because you were worried about the appearance of independence of the investigation?"

"Do you agree that... your office did not only have an obligation to operate with independence, but to operate with the appearance of independence as well?"

"'s one of your top attorneys?"

"Did Weissmann have a role is selecting other members of your team?"

"Andrew Weissmann attended Hillary Clinton's election night party. Did you know that before or after he came onto the team?"

"On January 30, 2017, Weissmann wrote an email to Deputy Attorney General Yates stating, "I am so proud and in awe regarding her disobeying a direct order from the President." Did Weissmann disclose that email to you before he joined the team?"

"Is that not a conflict of interest?"

"Are you aware that Ms. represented Hillary Clinton in litigation regarding personal emails originating from Clinton's time as Secretary of State?"

"Did you know that before she came on the team?"

", the guy sitting next to you, represented Justin Cooper, a Clinton aide who destroyed one of Clinton's mobile devices, and you must be aware by now that six of your lawyers donated $12,000 directly to Hillary Clinton. I'm not even talking about the $49,000 they donated to other Democrats, just the donations to the opponent [of] the target of your investigation."

"This isn't just about you being able to vouch for your team. This is about knowing that the day you accepted this role, you had to be aware, no matter what this report concluded, half of the country was going to be... skeptical of your team's findings. ...[T]hat's why we have recusal laws that define bias and perceive bias, for this very reason. 28 United States code 528 specifically lists not just political conflict of interest, but the appearance of political conflicts of interest. It's just simply not enough that you vouch for your team. The interests of justice demand that no perceived bias exists. I can't imagine a single prosecutor or judge that I have every appeared in front of would be comfortable with these circumstances where over half of the prosecutorial team had a direct relationship to the opponent of the person being investigated."

"And half of them had a direct relationship, political or personal, with the opponent of the person you were investigating, and that's my point. I wonder if not a single word in this entire report was changed, but rather the only difference was we switched Hillary Clinton and President Trump. If has texted those terrible things about Hillary Clinton instead of President Trump, if a team of lawyers worked for, donated thousands of dollars to, and went to Trump's parties instead of Clinton's, I don't think we'd be here trying to prop up an obstruction allegation. My colleagues would have spent the last four months accusing your team of being bought and paid for by the Trump campaign and we couldn't trust a single word of this report. They would still be accusing the President of conspiracy with Russia and they would be accusing your team of with that conspiracy. ..."

"[Y]ou performed as most of us expected. You've stuck closely to your report and you have declined to answer many of our questions on both sides. As the closer for the Republican side,.. I want to summarize the highlights of what we have heard, and what we know. You spent two years, and nearly $30 million taxpayer dollars, and unlimited resources to prepare a nearly 450 page report, which you describe today, as very thorough. Millions of Americans today maintain genuine concerns about your work, in large part, because of the infamous and widely publicized bias of your investigating team members, which we now know included 14 Democrats and 0 Republicans. Campaign finance reports later showed that team...[Robert Mueller attempted to speak here.]...of Democrat investigators, you hired, donated more than $60,000 to the Hillary Clinton campaign and other Democratic candidates. Your team also included and Lisa Page... and they had the... lurid text messages that confirm they openly mocked and hated Donald Trump and his supporters, and they vowed to take him out. Mr. Ratcliffe asked you earlier this morning... "Can you give me an example, other than Donald Trump, where the Justice Department determined that an investigated person was not exonerated because their innocence was not conclusively determined?"... You answered, "I cannot." Sir, that is unprecedented. The President believed, from the very beginning, that you and your Special Counsel team had serious conflicts. This is stated in the report and acknowledged by everybody. And yet, President Trump cooperated fully with the investigation. He knew he had done nothing wrong, and he encouraged all witnesses to cooperate with the investigation, and produced more than 1.4 million pages of information, and allowed over 40 witnesses who are directly affiliated with the White House or his campaign. Your report acknowledges on page 61, Volume 2, that a volume of evidence exists of the President telling many people privately... "The President was concerned about the impact of the Russian investigation on his ability to govern, and to address important foreign relations issues, and even matters of national security." And on page 174, Volume 2 your report also acknowledges that the Supreme Court has held... "The President's removal powers are at their zenith with respect to principal officers, that is, officers who must be appointed by the President and who report to him directly. The President's exclusive and illimitable power of removal of those principal officers furthers 'the President's ability to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed'"... And that would even include the Attorney General. ...[I]n spite of all of that, nothing ever happened to stop or impede your special counsel's investigation. Nobody was fired by the President. Nothing was curtailed, and the investigation continued unencumbered for 22 long months. As you finally concluded in Volume 1, the evidence... "did not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference"... And the evidence... "did not establish that the President, or those close to him, were involved in any Russian conspiracies, or had an unlawful relationship with any Russian official"... Over those 22 long months that your investigation dragged along, the President became increasingly frustrated, as many of the American people did, with its effects on our country and... his ability to govern. He vented about this to his lawyer and his close associates, and he even shared his frustrations... on Twitter. But while the President's social media accounts might have influenced some in the media, or the opinion of some the American people, none of those audiences were targets or witnesses in your investigation. The President never affected anybody's testimony. He never demanded to end the investigation, or demanded that you be terminated, and he never misled Congress, the DOJ, or the Special Counsel. Those, sir, are the undisputed facts. There will be a lot of discussion, I predict today, and great frustration throughout the country, about the fact that you wouldn't answer any questions... about the origins of this whole charade, which was the infamous Christopher Steele dossier, now proven to be totally bogus, even though it is listed and specifically referenced in your report. ...Mr. Mueller, there's one primary reason why you were called here today by the Democrat majority of our committee. Our colleagues... just want political cover. They desperately wanted you, today, to tell them they should impeach the President, but the one thing you have said very clearly today, is that your report is complete, and thorough, and you completely agree with and stand by its recommendations, and all of its content. Is that right?"

"...Your report does not recommend impeachment, does it?"

"It does not conclude that impeachment would be appropriate here, right?"

"That's one of the many things you wouldn't talk about today, but I think we can all draw our own conclusions. ...I'm glad this charade will come to an end soon and we can get back to the important business of this committee, with its broad jurisdiction of so many important issues for the country. ..."

"Mr. Chairman, I have a point of inquiry... Was the point of this hearing to get Mr. Mueller to recommend impeachment?"

"Mueller still struggling to answer even basic questions. He can’t accurately remember facts, evidence, or even his own conclusions. Folks—this guy didn’t run the investigation. His team of Resistance Democrats did. And they used it as a weapon to target a President they hated."

"[T]he President is, as he usually is, or often is, disgusting and racist. He makes these charges with no [basis] at all, and they are designed to distract attention from the very serious allegations about his conduct that came from the Committee hearings this week. The fact is, the President accepted help from the Russians to attack our election. His campaign worked with the Russians. That is undisputed, and he worked hard to cover up those crimes. He committed more crimes in working to cover them up, in lying and urging other people to lie to investigators. ...[H]e's just trying to change the subject, which is what he usually does."

"Your report also describes at least 10 separate instances of possible obstruction of justice that were investigated by you and your team, is that correct?"

"[T]he table of contents serves as a very good guide of some of the acts of that obstruction of justice that you investigated. ...On page 157 of Volume 2, you describe those acts. And they range from the President's effort to curtail the special counsel's investigation, the President's further efforts to have the attorney general take over the investigation, the President orders Don McGahn to deny that the President tried to fire the special counsel, and many others, is that correct?"

"I direct you now to... "The President's pattern of conduct as a whole sheds light on the nature of the President's acts and the inferences that can be drawn about his intent." Does that mean you have to investigate all of his conduct to ascertain true motive?"

"For each of those 10 potential instances of obstruction of justice, you analyzed three elements of the crime of obstruction of justice: an obstructive act, a nexus between the act and official proceeding, and corrupt intent, is that correct?"

"You wrote on page 178, Volume 2 in your report about corrupt intent, "Actions by the President to end a criminal investigation into his own conduct to protect against personal embarrassment or legal liability would constitute a core example of corruptly motivated conduct," is that correct?"

"Do you recall, and I think it's at page 78 of volume 2, the President told Sessions, "You were supposed to protect me. You were supposed to protect me," or words to that effect?"

"And is the attorney general supposed to be the attorney general of the United States of America, or the consigliere for the President?"

"On page 113... the President believed that an un-recused attorney general would play a protective role and conceal the President from the ongoing investigation. ...It's clear, from your report and the evidence, that the President wanted former Attorney General Sessions to violate the Justice Department ethics rules by taking over your investigation and improperly interfering with it, to protect himself and his campaign."

"Your investigation found that President Trump directed White House Counsel to fire you. Isn't that correct?"

"And the President claimed that he wanted to fire you because you had supposed conflicts of interest, isn't that correct?"

"Now, you had no conflicts of interest that required your removal, isn't that a fact?"

"Don McGahn advised the President that the asserted conflicts were, in his words, "silly and not real conflicts" ...page 85 of Volume 2 speaks to that. ...DOJ ethics officials confirmed that you had no conflicts that would prevent you from serving as special counsel, isn't that correct?"

"But despite Don McGahn and the Department of Justice guidance, around May 23, 2017, the President... "Prodded McGahn to complain to Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein about these supposed conflicts of interest," correct?"

"And McGahn declined to call Rosenstein... telling the President that... knocking out Mueller would be another fact used to claim obstruction of justice, isn't that correct?"

"Volume 2, page 81... and 82... after the President was warned about obstructing justice... on Tuesday, June 13, 2017, the President dictated a press statement, stating he had... "no intention of firing" you, correct?"

"But the following day, June 14, the media reported for the first time that you were investigating the President for obstructing of justice, correct?"

"[A]fter learning for the first time that he was under investigation, the very next day, the President... "issued a series of tweets acknowledging the existence of the obstruction investigation, and criticizing it." Isn't that correct?"

"[T]wo days later... page 85, Volume 2... "on Saturday, June 17, 2017, the President called McGahn at home to have the special counsel removed." ...On page 85 ..."On the first call, McGahn recalled that the President said something like... 'You've got to do this. You've got to call Rod.' " Correct?"