Rep. Guy Reschenthaler Calls 'This Entire Process UnAmerican' While Questioning Robert Mueller
WASHINGTON (AP/KDKA) -- Special counsel Robert Mueller testified before two different congressional committees and reiterated two points.
First, the Russians interfered with the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.
Second, nothing in his report exonerated or cleared President Donald Trump of obstructing his investigation because Justice Department rules didn't allow him to go there.
"We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime," Mueller testified.
"What about total exoneration? Did you actually totally exonerate the president," Intelligence Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler asked Mueller.
"No," Mueller responded.
The televised Capitol Hill appearance on Wednesday, Mueller's first since wrapping his two-year Russia probe last spring, unfolded at a moment of deep divisions in the country, with many Americans hardened in their opinions about the success of Donald Trump's presidency and whether impeachment proceedings are necessary.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, of western Pennsylvania, questioned Mueller as part of the House's session with the former special counsel. He was the lone local congressman involved.
Reschenthaler (R-PA): "Despite expectations your report would be released to the public, you left out significant exculpatory evidence -- evidence favorable to the president, correct?"
"I actually disagree with you. We strove to put into the report exculpatory evidence as well." pic.twitter.com/k51OP0Ujec— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 24, 2019
Rep. Reschenthaler: Did you write the report knowing that it would likely be shared with the public?
Mueller: "No."
Rep. Reschenthaler: "Did knowing the report could and likely would be made public, did that alter the contents that you included?"
Mueller: "I can't speak to that."
Rep. Reschenthaler: "Despite expectations that your report would be released to the public, you left out significant exculpatory evidence. In other words, evidence favorable to the president, correct?"
Mueller: "Well, I would actually disagree with you. I think we strove to put into the report exculpatory research as well."
Rep. Reschenthaler: "What you did is compiled a report of the worst information you gathered against the target of your investigation, who happens to be the president, you did this knowing you would not recommend charges and that the report would be made public."
Mueller: "Not true."
Reschenthaler: "What you did is compiled a report of the worst information you gathered against the target of your investigation, who happens to be the president, you did this knowing you would not recommend charges & that the report would be made public."
Mueller: "Not true." pic.twitter.com/WjLkGdauFj— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 24, 2019
Rep. Reschenthaler went on to call the investigation and the report "unAmerican."
"The drafting and the publication of some of the information in this report without an indictment, without prosecution, frankly flies in the face of American justice. And I find those facts, and this entire process unAmerican," he said.
Reschenthaler said Mueller should have reached a conclusion on whether the president broke the law, notwithstanding the Justice Department rules.
"He states that he had the obligation by statute to either make a prosecution recommendation or recommendation not to prosecute. He did neither of those things," Reschenthaler told KDKA political editor Jon Delano after the hearing.
(TM and © Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
