Muller said his investigation does not justify Trump

On Wednesday in Washington, former Special Prosecutor Robert Muller gives testimony in two Congress committees about Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump win, and whether President Trump was hindering justice, led by Muller.

For Trump, in the past the New York real estate magnate, who is now seeking to secure re-election for a new term, the stakes in this case are very high.

As Trump said earlier, he will either not watch the five-hour hearing with Muller on television or watch only fragments of them. Trump insists that the current hearings are just a huge waste of time and that he is innocent, either in collusion with the Russians or interfering in the investigation led by Muller.

“Your career is an example of responsibility,” said the head of the committee, Gerrold Nadler, addressing Muller, who opened the hearings in the Legal Committee.

Nadler thanked Robert Muller for taking part in the hearings.

In his introductory remarks, Republican Congressman Doug Collins said that President Trump’s negative attitude towards the Russian investigation can be understood.

He also stated that the current hearing was very late.

Addressing the legislators, Robert Muller recalled that he was tasked with investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 elections and, in particular, the actions of the 12 officers of the Russian special services, later found guilty.

Muller stressed that Russia carried out systematic interference in the elections.

Regarding the nature of his speech, Muller noted that it was unusual for a special prosecutor to speak publicly about his investigation.

He stated that he would not be able to highlight in his speech a number of issues, in particular, the beginning of the investigation of several aspects of the work of Trump's election headquarters by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Muller said that throughout his career he had to face a number of challenges to American democracy, and that Russian interference in the elections was the most serious among them.

To the question of Gerrold Nadler, whether the conclusion was made in the course of the investigation that the president was fully justified on the question of a possible obstruction of justice on his part, Muller answered negatively.

“Did you completely justify the president?” Asked Nadler. “No,” said Muller. “Suspicions have not been removed from the president in connection with the actions he allegedly committed.”

At the same time, answering the question of Collins, Muller said that the investigation did not reveal sufficient grounds to accuse Trump or his campaign headquarters in collusion with Russia.

According to Müller, his team for a year tried to agree that Trump personally answered the questions, but he agreed to do so only in writing.

Of the 65 questions that were posed to him, Trump wrote in 30 cases that he did not remember the events indicated.

At the same time, the former special prosecutor stressed that no charges could be brought against the current president. However, he acknowledged that the charges could be brought against other persons.

Responding to questions from legislators, Muller, in particular, noted the role of the former manager of the campaign headquarters of Trump Paul Manafort in contacts with the Russian side.

In the course of the discussion, Muller admitted that President Trump had expressed dissatisfaction with the self-dismissal of the former head of the Ministry of Justice Jeff Sessions from overseeing the Russian investigation.

Referring to the fate of the former employee of the Muller team Peter Stroka, the former Special Prosecutor noted that he was not aware of the latter’s negative attitude towards Trump, but upon learning of him, he immediately made an administrative decision regarding Stroka.

Answering the question why President Trump wanted to fire the special prosecutor, Muller said that the answer to this question is contained in the report submitted to him.

Muller confirmed the credibility of the evidence given by the legislators of the negative reaction of President Trump to the decision to conduct an investigation under the leadership of the special prosecutor.

Again referring to the question of possible accusations against the president, the former special prosecutor agreed that such accusations could be brought against the president after his term in office.

Answering the question of whether Prosecutor General Barr made any inaccuracies when presenting the results of the Muller report on the results of the investigation, the former Special Prosecutor said that the letter, previously sent to them by the head of the Ministry of Justice, speaks for itself.

In connection with the question asked about the awareness of Donald Tampa during the election campaign about compromising information about political opponents related to the activities of the WikiLeaks website, Muller said that this was enough said in his report.