Bad Start For Dems, Mueller Announces There Was No Collusion With Russia And Trump

In his opening statement during his testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and it did not start the way Democrats wanted.

The former special counsel made it known that he is going to stick to the report and not give them what they want.

And he did one more, extremely important thing. He said, to the committee and to the entire United States, that and his team did not find any collusion between President Donald Trump, his campaign and Russia.

“As you know in May 2017 the acting attorney general asked me to serve aspects counsel. I undertook that role because I believed that it was of paramount interest to the nation to determine whether a foreign adversary had interfered in the presidential election,” he said.

“As the acting attorney general said at the time the appointment was necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. My staff and I carried out this assignment with that critical objective in mind, to work quietly, thoroughly, and with integrity so that the public would have full confidence in the outcome.

“The order appointing me aspects counsel directs us to investigate Russian interference in the presidential election. This included investigating any links or coordination between the Russian government. It also included investigating efforts to interfere with or obstruct our investigation.

“Throughout the investigation I continually stressed two things to the team we had assembled. First, we needed to do our work as thoroughly as possible, as expeditiously as possible. It was in the public interest for our investigation to be complete, not to last a day longer than was necessary. Second, the investigation needed to be conducted fairly and with absolute integrity.

“Our team would not leak or take other actions that could compromise the integrity of our work. All decisions were made based on the facts and the law. During the course of our investigation we charged more than 30 defendants with committing federal crimes including 12 officers of the Russian military, seven defendants have been convicted or pled guilty. Certain of the charges we brought remain pending today. “

Is this presidential harassment?

For those matters I stress that the indictments contain allegations and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. In addition to the criminal charges we brought, as required, by Justice Department regulations we submitted a confidential report to the attorney general at the conclusion of our investigation.

“The report set forth the results of our work and the reasons for our charging and declination decisions. The attorney general later made the report largely public. As you know I made a few limited remarks, limited remarks about our report when we closed the special counsel’s office in may of this year.

“There are certain point that bear emphasis. First, our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systemic fashion. Second, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government its election interference election activities.

“We did not address collusion which is not a legal term. Rather we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy and it was not.

“Third, our investigation of efforts to obstruct the investigation and lie to investigators was of critical importance. Obstruction of justice strikes at the core of the government’s effort to find the truth and to hold wrongdoers accountable.

“Finally as described in volume two of our report, we investigated a series of actions by the president towards the investigation. 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. That was our decision then and remains our decision today.

“Let me say a further word about my appearance today. It is unusual for a prosecutor to testify about a criminalinvestigation and given my role as a prosecutor, there are reasons why my testimony will necessarily be limited. First, public testimony could affect several ongoing matters. In some of these matters occur rules or judicial orders limit the disclosure of information to protect, to protect the fairness of the proceedings. Consistent with longstanding Justice Department policy it would be inappropriate for me to comment in any way in an on going matter.

“Second the Justice Department 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 released a letter discussing the restrictions on my testimony. I therefore will not be able to answer questions about certain areas that I know are of public interest. For example, I am unable to address questions about the initial opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation which occurred months before my appointment. Or matters related to the so-called Steele dossier.

“These matters are subject of ongoing review by the department.Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed to the FBI or the justice Department. As I explained when we closed the special counsel’s office in May, our report contains our findings, analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made.

“We conducted an extensive investigation over two years. In writing the report, we stated the results of our investigation with precision. We scrutinized every word. I do not intend to surprise or describe the results of our work in a different way during the course of my testimony today. As I said on may 29th, the report is my testimony and I will stay within that text.

“And as I stated in may I will not comment on the actions of the attorney general or of Congress. I was appoint as a prosecutor and I intend to adhere to that role and to the department’s standards that govern it. I will be joined today by deputy special counsel Aaron Zebley.

“Mr. Zebley has extensive experience as a federal prosecutor and at the FBI where he served as my chief of staff. Mr. Zebley was responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the investigation’s conducted by our office. I want to again say thank you to the attorneys, the FBI agent, the attorneys, the analysts professional staff helped conduct this investigation in a fair and independent manner.

“These individuals who spent nearly two years of, working on this matter were off the highest integrity. Let me say one more thing. During the course of my career I have seen a number of challenges to our demock sift the Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious. As I said on may 29th, this deserves the attention of every American.”

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