Mueller to US Congress: Trump not exonerated for obstruction

After four decades as a US justice official, the former Marine earned a reputation as a tough, disciplined and no-nonsense prosecutor who has no time for politics.

But the conclusions of his final report, released in April, left many confused about whether he had implicated Trump in crimes.

It catalogued extensive contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, including attempts to cooperate or collude — neither of which is a specific crime.

It also laid out in detail 10 instances when Trump allegedly tried to obstruct the investigation.

But Mueller said in the report and in Wednesday’s hearings that he was prevented from recommending charges against Trump because Justice Department rules prohibited him from indicting a sitting president.

“The president cannot be charged with a crime,” he said.

In answering yes-or-no questions in the second hearing, before the House Intelligence Committee, Mueller confirmed that Trump’s campaign had deeply questionable contacts with Russia in 2016, agreeing that some were in part inspired by potential business deals.

He called Trump’s public outreach to WikiLeaks in July 2016, when the then-candidate encouraged the website to leak more Russia-stolen documents on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, “problematic.”

“Problematic is an understatement, in terms of what it displays in terms of giving some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” he said.

Communications between WikiLeaks and Trump’s son Donald Jr. in that period were “disturbing” and a reason for investigation, Mueller said.

And he said it was “absolutely correct” that, despite not charging Trump campaign members with conspiracy to collude with Russians, the investigation did turn up evidence of conspiracy.

Apparently wary of being used for televised sound bites in the brewing fight for the White House next year, Mueller refused to read aloud on camera the conclusions of his report or describe those conclusions in full sentences.

Instead, his curt, evasive answers seemed likely to thwart efforts by Democrats to further tar Trump’s reputation.

But Mueller was more vocal in defending the integrity of his own investigation, which Trump has labelled a “witch hunt” led by a team of anti-Trump Democrats.

“It is not a witch hunt,” he said.

“I’ve been in this business for almost 25 years, and in those 25 years, I have not had occasion once to ask somebody about their political affiliation. It is not done,” he said.

“What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity.”