Former special counsel Robert Mueller testified today before the House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees.
We’re wrapping up our live coverage of his testimony.
In case you missed it, here are the key takeaways from his second hearing:
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the House will seek grand jury material to enforce a subpoena against former White House counsel Don McGahn.
Some background: In May, the White House instructed former McGahn not to comply with a subpoena for documents Nadler, teeing up the latest in a series of escalating oversight showdowns between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats.
McGahn’s decision not to comply with the subpoena could push Nadler to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress, just as he’s moving to do with Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department defied a subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence.
Asked if the House should launch impeachment proceedings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoided answering the question directly, saying they still have some things to sort out.
Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, chair of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, said at the press conference that, “This is a critical moment in our country’s history.”
Cummings called today’s hearings a “giant step in making sure that the American people got a picture of all this and, hopefully, will look towards the future and say we’re not going to have this.”
“I’m begging the American people to pay attention to what is going on,” he said.
Rep. Adam Schiff said the US needs to “harden” its “election defenses” going into the 2020 election.
The comments come after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before two congressional committees today. Mueller talked about his investigation into Russian election meddling: a topic Schiff said puts America in a “vulnerable” position.
During his testimony, Mueller said the Russians expect to meddle in the 2020 election.
“It wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign,” Mueller said.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, laid out key lines from Robert Mueller’s testimony this evening.
Nadler, speaking at a news conference, said Mueller’s report found that President Trump obstructed justice and abused power. He went on to say that Mueller also found Trump benefited from Russia’s help.
Asked by CNN about former special counsel Robert Mueller saying he generally agreed that President Trump’s written answers to investigators were not always truthful, Trump claimed Mueller’s answers weren’t truthful.
“I don’t know whose answers weren’t — I guess his (Mueller’s) answers weren’t, because if you look, the whole report, you take a look at what they did. Some of the things that didn’t even know about, some of the things he didn’t even know what was going on. But you know, in the end what he did, he actually probably came through for himself,” Trump said.
He went on to criticize Mueller’s performance.
“The performance was obviously not very good. He had a lot of problems, but what he showed more than anything else is that this whole thing has been three years of embarrassment and waste of time for our country. And you know what, the Democrats thought they could win an election like this. I think they hurt themselves very badly for 2020,” Trump said.
Asked if Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke with Mueller, Trump said he did not know.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know — I don’t know — I mean frankly, whether or not he did it wouldn’t matter to me because he did nothing wrong,” Trump said, calling his son’s June 2016 meeting with Russians “a very unimportant meeting.”
President Trump said that he has no regrets about refusing to sit down for an interview with former special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation.
“No, I did the right thing,” he told reporters today, pointing to the number of individuals who were charged with lying to federal investigators.
Trump falsely diminished the lies that witnesses who were charged with lying told to investigators, suggesting that simply mischaracterizing “a date” or the weather could lead to federal charges.
“I’ve seen how they’ve destroyed people like Gen. Flynn and so many others, what they’ve done to people,” Trump said. “No, I did the right thing.”
President Trump said he knew the investigation into his campaign’s ties with Russia was a “hoax.”
Trump’s remarks come after former special counsel Robert Mueller testified in front of two congressional committees today and told lawmakers that Russia’s interference was “not a hoax.”
“Absolutely, it was not a hoax. The indictments we returned against the Russians, two different ones, were substantial in their scope using the scope word again. And I think one of the – we have underplayed to a certain,” Mueller said.
Trump also told reporters that he appreciated Republicans and “those incredible warriors” who were “defending our country.”
“Republicans that defended something and defended something very powerful, very important because they were really defending our country more than anything else. They were defending our country. But they were warriors and they’ve been warriors for a long time. And everybody knew it was a hoax, especially the Democrats,” Trump said.
President Trump argued Robert Mueller’s testimony today resulted in “a devastating day for the Democrats” and predicted that Democrats will “lose the 2020 election…because of the path they chose.”
Trump has previously suggested that Democrats’ focus on investigating him and the drumbeat for impeachment will hurt them in the 2020 elections.
President Trump appeared to misunderstand former special counsel Robert Mueller’s correction today at the beginning of his second hearing, criticizing multiple reporters who asked him if he was concerned he could be indicted after leaving office.
“Robert Mueller’s statement the earlier statement and then he did a recap, he did a correction later on in the afternoon. And you know what that correction was and you still ask the question,” he said, chastising the NBC reporter who asked the question.
“The fact that you even asked that question…He totally corrected himself in the afternoon and you know that,” he said.
Mueller opened his testimony at his second congressional hearing this afternoon by seeking to clarify one of the most explosive responses made in his first session: that he did not charge the President because of Justice Department guidelines against indicting a sitting President.
President Trump, speaking to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House following Robert Mueller’s testimony, said it was “a very good day.”
“The Republican party, our country, there was no defense of what — what Robert Mueller was trying to defend, in all fairness to Robert Mueller, whether his performance was a bad one or a good one, I think everybody understands that. I think everybody understands what is going on. There was no defense to this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt,” Trump said.
Trump added believes it “is a disgrace what happened. But I think today proved a lot to everybody.”
He called the investigation a “phony cloud.”
“We’ve done a great job and we’ve done it under this terrible, phony cloud — a phony cloud, that is all it, Trump said.
He went on to say that he believes Democrats know the investigation is “phony stuff.”
“And you know who knew it was a phony cloud more than anyone else is Schiff and Nadler and Schumer and Pelosi, every one of them. They all knew it was phony stuff,” Trump said.
During his seven-hours of testimony today, Mueller said that he did not believe that the investigation was a witch hunt or a hoax.
Rep. Sean Maloney, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, defended how today’s hearing went and said it underscores the need to open up an impeachment inquiry.
He said he was disappointed former special counsel Robert Mueller did not subpoena President Trump, but said he understood his justification by thinking the attorney general would act in good faith.
Like other Democrats, Maloney argued that their strategy was to read the report and let Mueller confirm the details, though he seemed to acknowledge it would have been better if Mueller spoke more (but they were dealt with a witness who didn’t really want to).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t have much to say about today’s hearings.
This is in keeping with what he told reporters Tuesday — that he didn’t intend to watch because there would be nothing new to learn.
President Trump took to Twitter immediately at the conclusion of Robert Mueller’s testimony.
In all caps, Trump tweeted “TRUTH IS A FORCE OF NATURE!”
Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale said today’s hearings with former special counsel Robert Mueller were “a disaster for Democrats.”
“Robert Mueller confirmed what we already knew: No collusion, no obstruction, and the way President Trump has been treated is unprecedented,” he said in a statement.
Remember: Several times today, Mueller testified that a US president could be charged after he or she leaves office. Mueller has not, however, said if Trump should be prosecuted after he leaves office.
Here’s the full statement from Parscale:
Meanwhile, as the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee begin to blast out statements, the White House held an afternoon call with surrogates to discuss talking points after Mueller’s testimony, a person involved says.
Robert Mueller deferred or declined to answer questions from members of Congress at least 82 times during his testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, according to a CNN analysis. Of those instances, Mueller referred lawmakers to his report at least four times.
Earlier today, while testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee Mueller deferred or declined to answer questions from lawmakers at least 124 times during his three and a half hours of testimony. Of those instances, Mueller referred lawmakers to his report at least 39 times.
Over the course of the day he deferred or declined to answer questions 206 times. Of those instances, Mueller referred lawmakers to his report at least 43 times.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s second, and final, hearing of the day just wrapped up.
Mueller’s first hearing started at 8:30 a.m., which means he testified for seven hours (including a lunch recess and two other short breaks).
Rep. Val Demings, in her questioning today, sought to learn more about Robert Mueller’s thoughts on President Trump’s participation in his investigation.
She asked Mueller: “Director Mueller, isn’t it fair to say the President’s written answers were not only inadequate and incomplete, because he didn’t answer many of your questions, but where he did, his answers showed he wasn’t always being truthful?”
Mueller responded in four simple words: “I would say generally.”
Michael Cohen is watching Mueller testify today in a packed common room of inmates at FCI Otisville.
Here’s the statement that was provided to CNN:
