United States Law

"[I]n... your opening statement you indicate that pursuant to Justice Department regulations... you submitted a confidential report to the Attorney General at the conclusion of the investigation. What I'd like you to confirm is, the report that you did—that is the subject matter of this hearing—was to the Attorney General."

"The Special Counsel did not charge with anything, correct?"

"[G]iven your constraints on what you're able or allowed to answer, with respect to counterintelligence matters or other matters that are currently open under investigation, you're not going to be able to answer my remaining questions..."

"But you did not establish any conspiracy, much less a well-developed one?"

"I want to talk about your powers and authorities. ...[T]he Attorney General and the appointment order gave you powers and authorities that reside in the Attorney General. Now, the Attorney General has no ability to give you powers and authority greater than... the Attorney General. Correct?"

"The stated purpose of your appointment as Special Counsel was to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. As part of that full and thorough investigation, what determination did the Special Counsel office make about whether the Steele dossier was part of the Russian government efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election?"

"I very much agree with your determination that Russia's efforts were sweeping and systematic. I think it should concern every American. That's why I want to know just how sweeping and systematic those efforts were. I want to find out if Russia interfered with our election by providing false information through sources to Christopher Steele about a Trump conspiracy that you determined didn't exist."

"[T]o that point, you addressed one of the issues that I needed to, which was from your testimony this morning, which some construed as a change to the written report. You talked about the exchange that you had with Congressman Lieu. I wrote it down a little bit different. I want to ask you about it so that the record's perfectly clear. I recorded that he asked you... "The reason you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the OLC opinion stating you cannot indict a sitting president," to which you responded, "That is correct." That response is inconsistent—I think you'll agree—with your written report. I want to be clear that it is not your intent to change your written report. It is your intent to clarify the record today."

"An American citizen from the Republic of Georgia, who your report misidentifies as a Russian, claims that your report omitted parts of a text message he had with Michael Cohen, about stopping the flow of compromising tapes of Donald Trump. In the omitted portions, he says he did not know what the tapes actually showed. Was that portion of the exchange left out of the report for a reason?"

"[D]id anyone ask you to exclude anything from your report that you felt should've been in the report? ...[N]o one asked you specifically to exclude something that you believe should've been in there?"

"I'm just trying to understand the process. Does expanding the scope come from the acting Attorney General, or , or does it come from you, or can it come from either?"

"I agree, with respect to that. But... an application and three renewal applications were submitted by the United States government to spy or surveil on Trump campaign... associate... , and on all four occasions, the United States government submitted the Steele dossier as a central piece of evidence... Now, the basic premise of the dossier... was that there was a well-developed conspiracy of cooperation between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, but the Special Counsel investigation didn't establish any conspiracy, correct?"

"In your May 29th press conference and, again... this morning, you made it pretty clear you wanted the Special Counsel report to speak for itself. You said at your press conference... that was the office's final position, and [would] not comment on any other conclusions or hypotheticals about the President. Now, you spent the last few hours... [with] Democrats trying to get you to answer... hypotheticals about the President... I think you've stayed pretty much true to what your intent and desire was, but... regardless of that, the Special Counsel's office has closed, and it has no continuing jurisdiction or authority. So, what would be your authority or jurisdiction for adding new conclusions or determinations to the Special Counsel's written report?"

"I want to focus on one word in your report. It's the second to the last word in the report. It's exonerate. The report states... while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it does not exonerate him. ...[I]n the judiciary hearing, in your prior testimony, you've already agreed with Mr. Ratcliffe that exonerate is not a legal term; that there is not a legal test for this. ...[D]oes the Attorney General have the power or authority to exonerate? What I'm putting up here is the United States code—this is where the Attorney General gets his power—and the Constitution, and the annotated... cases of these... We even went to your law school, because I went to Case Western, but I thought maybe your law school teaches it differently... [W]e got the criminal law textbook from your law school. ...[N]owhere in these—because we had these scanned—is there a process, or description on exonerate. There's no office of exoneration at the Attorney General's office. There's no certificate at the bottom of his desk. Mr. Mueller, would you agree with me that the Attorney General does not have power to exonerate?"

"[The following questions remained unanswered by Robert Mueller, for reasons given in his introductory comments.] [4.] Did the Special Counsel's office undertake any efforts to investigate and verify, or disprove allegations contained in the Steele dossier? [5.] The reason I'm asking for the American public that's watching. ...[T]he Steele Dossier formed part of the basis to justify the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. As we know, it was used to obtain a FISA warrant on . This is why I'm asking these questions. Did your office undertake any efforts to identify Steele's sources or subsources? [6.] Were these tasks referred to any other agencies? [7.] Did your office consider whether the Russian government used Steele's sources to provide Steele with disinformation?"

"...[O]n General Flynn, I know you came after the leak of his phone call with the Russian ambassador. Your time at FBI, it would be a major scandal, wouldn't it, for the leak of the national security advisor and anyone..."

"Did your report name any people who were acting as U.S. government informants or sources, without disclosing that fact?"

"...Were you aware that Prince has made these allegations that he was surveilled. He's concerned that there were leaks about this surveillance. Did you make any referrals about these things?"

"On Volume 1, page 133... you state that has ties to Russian intelligence. His name... came up quite often today. The report omits to mention that Kilimnik has long-term relationships with U.S. government officials including our own State Department."

"[Y]ou would... not disagree with me when I say that there is no place that the Attorney General has the power to exonerate and he's not been given that authority?"

"I know it's not in the report, but... if Kilimnik is being used in the report to say that he was possibly some type of Russian agent, then I think it is important for this Committee to know if Kilimnik has ties to our own State Department, which it appears... he does."

"I want to take a moment to re-emphasize something that my friend Mr. Turner has said. I've heard many people state, no person is above the law. And many times recently, they add, not even the President, which I think is blazingly obvious to most of us. ...I agree with this statement that no person is above the law. But there's another principal that we also have to defend, and that is the presumption of innocence. And I'm sure you agree with this principle, though I think the way that your office phrased some parts of your report, it does make me wonder... For going on three years, innocent people have been accused of very serious crimes, including treason. Accusations made, even here today. They have made their lives disrupted, and in some cases destroyed by false accusations, for which there is absolutely no basis, other than some people desperately wish that it was so. But your report is very clear. No evidence of conspiracy. No evidence of coordination. And I believe we owe it to these people, who have been falsely accused, including the President and his family, to make that very clear. Mr. Mueller, the credibility of your report is based on the integrity of how it is handled. And there's something that I think bothers me and other Americans. I'm holding here in my hand a binder of 25 examples of leaks that occurred from the Special Counsel's office—from those who associated with your work—dating back to as early as a few weeks after your inception... and continuing up to just a few months ago. All of these... have one thing in common. They were designed to weaken or embarrass the President, every single one. Never was it leaked that you had found no evidence of collusion. Never was it leaked that the Steele dossier was a complete fantasy, nor that it was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign. I could go on and on. Mr. Mueller, are you aware of anyone from your team having given advance knowledge of the raid on Roger Stone's home to any person or the press, including CNN?"

"You were asked this earlier about Trump attorney, John Dowd, that pieces of his phone call were omitted from the report. It was what Mr. Dowd calls . Are you concerned about..."

"[The following questions remained unanswered by Robert Mueller, for reasons given in his introductory comments.] [1.] Was the Steele dossier one of those documents that was reviewed? [2.] I'm just asking a process question. Have you read the Steele dossier? [3.] You were tasked as Special Counsel to investigate whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign associates to interfere with the 2016 election... [T]he FBI... has relevant documents and information related to the opening of the CIA investigation. Were you and your team permitted to access all of those documents?"

"[Y]ou're right, it is a cloud, and it's an unfair cloud for dozens of people. But to my point, are you aware of anyone providing information to the media regarding the raid on Roger Stone's home, including CNN?"

"So the circumstances surrounding the origin of the investigation have yet to be fully vetted then. I'm... glad that Attorney General Barr and U.S. Attorney Durham are looking into this matter."

"I testified this morning before the House Judiciary Committee. I ask that the opening statement I made before that Committee be incorporated into the record here. ...I understand that this Committee has a unique jurisdiction, and that you are interested in further understanding the implications of our investigation. So let me say a word about how we handled the potential impact of our investigation on counterintelligence matters. ...the Special Counsel regulations effectively gave me the role of United States Attorney. As a result, we structured our investigation around evidence for possible use in prosecution of federal crimes. We did not reach... counterintelligence conclusions. We did, however, set up processes... to identify and pass counterintelligence information... to the FBI. Members of our office periodically briefed the FBI about counterintelligence information. In addition, there were agents and analysts from the FBI who were not on our team, but whose job it was to identify counterintelligence information in our files, and to disseminate that information to the FBI. With these reasons, questions about what the FBI has done with the counterintelligence information obtained from our investigation should be directed to the FBI. I also want to reiterate a few points that I made this morning. I am not making any judgments or offering opinions about the guilt or innocence in any pending case. 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. First) public testimony could effect several ongoing matters, in some of these matters court rules or judicial orders limit the disclosure of information, to protect the fairness of the proceedings. And consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy, it would be inappropriate for me to comment, in any way that could effect an ongoing matter. Second) the Justice Department has asserted privileges concerning investigative information and decisions, ongoing matters within the Justice Department, and deliberations within our office. These are Justice Department privileges that I will respect. The department has released a letter discussing the restrictions on my testimony. I therefore will not be able to answer questions about certain areas... 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... Steele dossier. These matters are the subject of ongoing review by the department. Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed to the FBI, or the Justice Department. Third) ...it is important for me to adhere to what we wrote in our report. The report contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We stated the results of our investigation with precision. I do not intend to summarize or describe the results of our work in a different way... today. And as I stated in May, I also will not comment on the actions of the Attorney General, or of Congress. I was appointed as a prosecutor and I intend to adhere to that role, and to the department's standards that govern it. Finally) ...over the course of my career I have seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government's efforts to interfere in our election is among the most serious, and I am sure that the committee agrees. ... I want to add one correction to my testimony this morning. I wanted to go back to one thing that was said this morning by Mr. Lieu. It was said... "you didn't charge the President because of the OLC opinion." That is not the correct way to say it. As we say in the report, and as I said in the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the President committed a crime. ..."

"The difficulty with this... is we are all left to wonder whether the President is representing us or his financial interests. ...The facts you set out in your report and have elucidated here today tell a disturbing tale of a massive Russian intervention in our election, of a campaign so eager to win, so driven by greed, that it was willing to accept the help of a hostile foreign power, and a presidential election decided by a handful of votes in a few key states. Your work tells of a campaign so determined to conceal their corrupt use of foreign help, that they risked going to jail by lying to you, to the FBI, and to Congress about it and, indeed, some have gone to jail over such lies. And your work speaks of a president who committed countless acts of obstruction of justice, that in my opinion and that of many other prosecutors, had it been anyone else in the country, they would have been indicted. Notwithstanding the many things you have addressed today and in your report, there were some questions you could not answer given the constraints you're operating under. You would not tell us whether you would have indicted the president, but for the OLC opinion that you could not. And so the Justice Department will have to make that decision when the President leaves office, both as to the crime of obstruction of justice, and as to the campaign finance fraud scheme that individual [number] one directed and coordinated, and for which Michael Cohen went to jail. You would not tell us whether the president should be impeached, nor did we ask you, since it is our responsibility to determine the proper remedy for the conduct outlined in your report. Whether we decide to impeach the President... or we do not, we must take any action necessary to protect the country, while he is in office. You would not tell us the results or whether other bodies looked into Russian compromise in the form of , so we must do so. You would not tell us whether the counterintelligence investigation revealed whether people still serving within the administration pose a risk of compromise, and should never have been given a security clearance, so we must find out. We did not bother to ask whether financial inducements from any Gulf nations were influencing this U.S. policy, since it is outside the four corners of your report, and so we must find out. But one thing is clear from your report [and] your testimony from Director Wray's statements yesterday. The Russians massively intervened in 2016, and they are prepared to do so again, in voting that is set to begin a mere eight months from now. The President seems to welcome the help, again. And so, we must make all efforts to harden our election's infrastructure, to ensure there is a paper trail for all voting, to deter the Russians from meddling, to discover it when they do, to disrupt it, and to make them pay. , however, We cannot control what the Russians do, not completely, but we can decide what we do, and that the centuries old experiment we call American democracy is worth cherishing."

"[Y]our report opens with two statements of remarkable clarity and power. The first statement is one that is, as of today, not acknowledged by the President of the United States, and that is... "the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion". The second statement remains controversial amongst members of this body, same page... "the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome". Do I have that statement right?"

"The second thing he said was, why should I miss out on all those opportunities? I mean, why indeed. Merely running a Presidential campaign, why should you miss out on making all that money, was the import of his statement. Were you ever able to ascertain whether Donald Trump still intends to build that tower when he leaves office? ...Were you able to ascertain, because he wouldn't answer your questions completely, whether or if he ever ended that desire to build that tower?"

"That's the stuff of counterintelligence nightmares, is it not?"

"[T]his attack on our democracy involved, as you said, two operations. First, a social media disinformation campaign... a targeted campaign to spread false information on places like Twitter and Facebook. Is that correct?"

"And when this was revealed, that there were these communications, notwithstanding President's denials, the President was confronted about this and he said two things. First... that's not a crime. But I think you and I have already agreed that shouldn't be the standard. Right, Mr. Mueller?"

"And that could open him up to compromise that financial relationship."

"He also lied about his discussions with the Russian ambassador, and since the Russians were on the other side of the conversation, they could have exposed that, could they not?"

"If a presidential candidate was doing business in Russia and saying he wasn't, Russians could expose that too, could they not?"

"[Y]our report describes a sweeping and systematic effort by Russia to influence our Presidential election. Is that correct?"

"Did your investigation find that the releases of the hacked e-mails were strategically timed to maximize impact on the election? ...Page 36 ..."the release of the documents were designed and timed to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election." ...[W]hich presidential candidate was Russia's hacking and dumping operation designed to benefit, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?"

"The second operation in the Russian attack was a scheme—what we called the hack and dump—to steal and release hundreds of thousands of e-mails from the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign. Is Is that a fair summary?"

"Facebook estimated, as per your report, that the Russian fake images reached 126 million people, is that correct?"

"[L]et's look at , the spokesperson for the Kremlin, someone that the Trump organization was in contact with to make that deal happen. Your report indicates that Michael Cohen had a long conversation on the phone with someone from Dmitry Peskov's office. Presumably, the Russians could have tape recorded that conversation, could they not?"

"[W]ho did the Russian social media campaign ultimately intend to benefit, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?"

"I want to... turn to some of the exchange you had with Mr. Welch a bit earlier. I'd like to see if we can broaden the aperture at the end of your hearing. From your testimony today I'd gather that knowingly accepting assistance from a foreign government is an unethical thing to do."

"[S]o we have Candidate Trump who's saying "I have no dealings with the Russians," but if the Russians had a tape recording, they could expose that, could they not?"

"And to the degree that it undermines our democracy and our institutions, we can also agree that it's unpatriotic. ...And wrong."

"The standard behavior for a presidential candidate, or any candidate for that matter, shouldn't be merely whether something is criminal, it should be held to a higher standard... I'm just referring to ethical standards. We should hold our elected officials to a standard higher than mere avoidance of criminality, shouldn't we?"

"I think you made it clear that you think it unethical, to put it politely, to tout a foreign service like WikiLeaks publishing stolen political documents of a presidential campaign?"

"If the President was concerned that if he lost his election, he didn't want to miss out on that money, might he have the same concern about losing his reelection?"

"And Don Jr. was made aware that the Russians were offering dirt on his opponent, correct?"

"And when you say that you would love to get that help, that would constitute acceptance of the offer?"