Robert Mueller testifies before House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, mostly sticks to his report
Former special counsel Robert Mueller frustrated some lawmakers with his often terse answers and appeared off-balance at times during over five hours of testimony.
Top House Democrats hit back Wednesday at President Trump after the Robert Mueller hearings saw the former special counsel largely rehash the findings of his report on the Russia investigation.
“We are so getting used to normal,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., about the Trump administration. “We refuse to accept it. … We have got to guard this moment, this is our watch.”
He reiterated the Democrats’ goal is accountability not a witch hunt.
“It’s about loving democracy. It’s about loving our country,” he said. “I am begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., claimed Mueller's “powerful words” shed light on the Trump administration's actions.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the testimony was an “indictment” of Republicans’ “cone of silence.”
Pelosi said about the impeachment of Trump: “If we should go down that path, we need to be in the strongest possible position.”
TRUMP TWEETS CRYPTIC STATEMENT AS MUELLER HEARINGS END
She said impeachment would be about facts and the laws, a patriotic act to preserve democracy, not politics.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said his panel will file lawsuits this week to obtain more information about Mueller’s report and to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Donald McGahn.
Democrats have been preparing the lawsuits for weeks and were waiting until after Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday. They will seek to obtain secret grand jury material from Mueller’s April report that has so far been withheld from Congress by the Justice Department, and also force McGahn to provide documents and testimony.
As part of the suits, the House also was expected to challenge the White House’s claim of “absolute immunity” for McGahn and others who worked in the White House.
House Republicans retorted that Mueller's testimony uncovered no meaningful new information and that it's time to move on.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said that "this should be the end of the chapter that we put America through."
Republicans said Mueller did not find guilt.
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., added: “The Democrats have refused to accept reality. They live in an alternative universe. … Today, this is over.”
McCarthy suggested that people think about what he calls "this poor president," and what he has gone through.
In back-to-back hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, the former special counsel in the investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential elections largely honored his pledge to stick to his 448-page report. He often answered questions in a single word.
Wednesday’s first hearing before the Judiciary Committee focused on whether the president illegally obstructed justice by attempting to seize control of Mueller’s investigation.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
The special counsel examined nearly a dozen episodes, including Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and his efforts to have Mueller himself removed.
The afternoon hearing before the House intelligence committee dove into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content.
More from Politics
