WASHINGTON (AP) Robert Mueller, the taciturn lawman at the center of a polarizing American drama, bluntly dismissed President Donald Trumps claims of total exoneration in the federal probe of Russias 2016 election interference. In a long day of congressional testimony, Mueller warned that Moscows actions represented and still represent a great threat to American democracy.
Muellers back-to-back Capitol Hill appearances on Wednesday, his first since his two-year Russia probe ended, carried the prospect of a historic climax to a rare criminal investigation into a sitting American president. But his testimony was more likely to reinforce rather than reshape hardened public opinions on the future of Trumps presidency and impeachment.
With his terse, one-word answers, and a sometimes stilted and halting manner, Mueller made clear his desire to avoid the partisan fray and the deep political divisions roiling Congress and the country.
He delivered neither crisp TV sound bites to fuel a Democratic impeachment push nor comfort to Republicans striving to undermine his investigations credibility. But his comments grew more animated by the afternoon, when he sounded the alarm on future Russian election interference. He said he feared a new normal of American campaigns accepting foreign help.
He condemned Trumps praise of WikiLeaks, which released Democratic emails stolen by Russia. And he said of the interference by Russians and others: They are doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.
His report, he said, should live on after him and his team.
We spent substantial time assuring the integrity of the report, understanding that it would be our living message to those who come after us, Mueller said. But it also is a signal, a flag to those of us who have some responsibility in this area to exercise those responsibilities swiftly and dont let this problem continue to linger as it has over so many years.
Trump, claiming vindication despite the renewal of serious allegations, focused on his own political fortunes rather than such broader issues.
This was a devastating day for the Democrats, he said. The Democrats had nothing and now they have less than nothing.
Mueller was reluctant to stray beyond his lengthy written report , but that didnt stop Republicans and Democrats from laboring to extract new details.
Trumps GOP allies tried to cast the former special counsel and his prosecutors as politically motivated. They referred repeatedly to what they consider the improper opening of the investigation.
Democrats, meanwhile, sought to emphasize the most incendiary findings of Muellers 448-page report and weaken Trumps reelection prospects in ways Muellers book-length report did not. They hoped that even if his testimony did not inspire impeachment demands House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made clear she will not pursue impeachment, for now Mueller could nonetheless unambiguously spell out questionable, norm-shattering actions by the president.
The prosecutor who endured nearly seven hours of hearings was a less forceful public presence than the man who steered the FBI through the Sept. 11 attacks and the 12 years after that. But Mueller, 74, was nonetheless skilled enough in the ways of Washington to avoid being goaded into leading questions he didnt want to answer.
Mueller frequently gave one-word answers to questions, even when given opportunities to crystallize allegations of obstruction of justice against the Republican president. He referred time and again to the wording in his report.
Was the president lying when he said he had no business ties to Russia? Im not going to go into the details of the report along those lines, Mueller said. Did you develop any sort of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia? Again, Mueller said, I pass on answering.
But he was unflinching on the most-critical matters, showing flashes of personality and emotion.
