Shorter Jim Jordan: WHY WOULD A RUSSIAN ASSET LIE TO THE FBI I DON"T KNOW SOMEONE EXPLAIN IT TO ME.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
Jordan just misstook Mifsud for McGahn, complaining Mueller didn't charge him.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
Note: there's a natural follow-up here. Mueller says he can't get into charging decisions abt Mifsud, but that's the entire report. Q should be: were non-Trump people outside scope of report?
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
Rep. Bass (D-CA) asks Mueller if President Trump told WH aide Rob Porter that he would consider firing WH counsel McGahn if McGahn did not draft a letter denying Trump had tried to fire the special counsel.
Mueller: 'Yes.'#MuellerHearing pic.twitter.com/c6TWE2rzQF— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 24, 2019
— Allan Johnson (@allanjohnsonmn1) July 24, 2019
That's what he said! Which is kind of amazing because they've been spinning forever that he was interviewing for the job. https://t.co/YjSiTuleJG
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 24, 2019
Today’s hearing shows that Republicans have pledged blind loyalty to Trump, not to the constitution, not to the law and absolutely not to justice. I am ashamed that I was a Republican #MuellerHearing.
— David Weissman (@davidmweissman) July 24, 2019
#Mueller refuses to answer when asked if any part of #Barr statement of #Mueller report principal conclusions inaccurate.
— Shanlon Wu (@shanlonwu) July 24, 2019
Jesus, forgive me for ever being a Republican.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) July 24, 2019
ill probably keep repeating myself: but it its all from fox news. this is why i say people should pay *some* attention to them. its the underpinning for everything republicans do. its garbage, but it also controls one of our two major political parties. https://t.co/GHD4EAFqWM
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 24, 2019
He's even nuttier in print. https://t.co/LD6zDXpWfq
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 24, 2019
Rep. Ted Deutch: "You found evidence that the president wanted to fire you because you were investigating obstruction of justice, isn't that correct?"
Robert Mueller: "That's what it says in the report. And I stand by the report.”#MuellerHearings #MuellerHearing— Look Up (@Lookupnational) July 24, 2019
Louis, you went full Gohmert. Never go full Gohmert.
— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) July 24, 2019
I see Republicans are back in QAnon territory now. I guess this is their entire strategy.
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) July 24, 2019
Rep. Jackson Lee made an important, but perhaps subtle, point in her questioning. She established that Mueller found that Trump had motive to impede the Russia investigation, contradicting William Barr, who said Trump was merely frustrated.
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) July 24, 2019
You can always count on @replouiegohmert to go full nasty and head far down the conspiracy hole. This will be the exchange Fox News will eat up.#OnBrand#MuellerHearing
— EJ Dionne (@EJDionne) July 24, 2019
This 5 minute round nonsense is legislative malpractice. The difference w/ the Ervin Senate Watergate Hearings is huge: because there counsel to the Committee did extensive questioning of each witness.
— walter dellinger (@walterdellinger) July 24, 2019
Rep. Johnson gets Mueller to confirm that Trump asked Don McGahn to fire him and that the DOJ decided Mueller had no conflicts that interfered with his serving as special counsel.#MuellerHearings https://t.co/StK6ldGH8a
— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) July 24, 2019
Really enjoying the "Lock Her Up" crowd saying that asking if Trump could be charged when he leaves office is out of line.
Simply put: Hillary Clinton was investigated and found innocent and the current occupant of the White House is a criminal.#MuellerHearings— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) July 24, 2019
COHEN: Is the attorney general supposed to be the attorney general of the United States or the consigliere for the president?
MUELLER: Of the United States of America pic.twitter.com/zzdSJeXY53— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2019
Mueller today compared to past Mueller hearings:
Similar: concise, careful answers, sidestepping by offering to “check” sources
Different: Less forceful answers, more halting, more requests to repeat questions.— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) July 24, 2019
MUELLER: Like I give a shit about contractors. I was DIRFBI for 12 years.
CHABOT: Why wasn't the Dossier in the report?
MUELLER: It has nothing to do with us, asshole.— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) July 24, 2019
the gop's entire defense in the #MuellerHearing is to regurgitate bs from sean hannity and fox news. thats the intellectual backbone of the party. https://t.co/bkH3r0Dnt3
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 24, 2019
27/ Rep. Chabot (R) is trying to work through the complicated Fusion GPS/Prevezon fact pattern, and Mueller isn't going to touch it (and I'm not sure he has much familiarity with it). He says it's outside his purview. The GOP isn't going to like that; this is a big area for them.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 24, 2019
Mueller says that Steele Dossier and FusionGPS is beyond his purview. Neither name appears in his report because he did not rely on them in his investigation.
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) July 24, 2019
They all act as if Mueller should have the entire report memorized. He had a lot of help writing this report. #MuellerHearings
— amy (@amylestoye) July 24, 2019
This exchange between Mueller and Ratcliffe is typical of the GOP dynamic so far into the Judiciary Committee pic.twitter.com/rUqehB0HgD
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) July 24, 2019
6/ In this particular case, Trump's allies are complaining about a decision by Mueller which was very fair and restrained towards Trump.
Ratcliffe's argument obscures that underlying context, which is important.— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) July 24, 2019
Ratcliffe dead wrong about the Special Counsel regs. I drafted them in 1999. They absolutely don't forbid the Mueller Report. And they recognize the need for a Report " both for historical purposes and to enhance accountability."
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 24, 2019
(Ratcliffe, who just grilled Mueller, is among the names being floated for Director of National Intelligence)
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 24, 2019
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee: Does obstruction of justice warrant a lot of time in jail if you were convicted?
Mueller: Yes. #MuellerHearings https://t.co/pjOwNhYtbJ pic.twitter.com/PUiKa9UjvE— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 24, 2019
Robert Mueller: "During the course of our investigation, we charged more than 30 defendants of committing federal crimes." #MuellerTestimony #MuellerHearings https://t.co/f0e5AjmZvv pic.twitter.com/aTYOp3I4Jz
— The Hill (@thehill) July 24, 2019
20/ There are going to be logistical issues throughout the day. Members of Congress are moving too quickly, Mueller is struggling to get to the parts of the report they're quoting fast enough. No one will give Mueller time for anything but a "yes" or "no"—no way to run a hearing.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 24, 2019
Republicans so far are just making their own arguments and not getting helpful words out of Mueller's mouth. They are just performing. This is weird.
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) July 24, 2019
Lofgren: "Did your investigation find that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from one of the candidates winning?"
Mueller: "Yes."
Lofgren: "And which candidate would that be?"
Mueller: "Well, it would be Trump."
Via CBS pic.twitter.com/y1Iq7wPIme— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 24, 2019
Mueller confirms that Trump refused to be interviewed by his team pic.twitter.com/d8rXwRshwl
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2019
Collins: 40 FBI Agents?
Note: HJC testimony is that 100 FBI agents investigation Clinton's server.— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
Trump has said over and over that Mueller's report concluded, or even literally "said," "no obstruction." Mueller says that -- as anyone who has read the report knows -- that is not what it said.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 24, 2019
Rep. Doug Collins defends Trump's conduct, says he wants to understand the origins of FBI investigation: "The president's attitude toward the investigation was understandably negative, yet the president did not use his authority to close the investigation" https://t.co/pjOwNhYtbJ pic.twitter.com/sEboPNwA4Q
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 24, 2019
"Those are the facts of the Mueller report. Russia meddled in the 2016 election," Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins says at #MuellerHearings. "The president did not conspire wth the Russians and nothing we hear today will change those facts" https://t.co/jFAp2RJoaI pic.twitter.com/3I0ZfT6fU2
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 24, 2019
JUST IN: Robert Mueller: "Based on Justice Department policy and principles of fairness, we decided we would not make a determination as to whether the president committed a crime. That was our decision then, and it remains our decision today." https://t.co/jFAp2RJoaI pic.twitter.com/BuTWPkqmha
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 24, 2019
Less than 20 seconds in, Doug Collins tells his first lie (that the Mueller Report addressed "collusion").
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
Note, this was NOT an inquiry into WHETHER RU interfered in election. ICA did that.
Collins now adding a new c-word the Mueller Report doesn't address, collaborated.— emptywheel (@emptywheel) July 24, 2019
MUELLER will NOT address the origins of the probe, a key topic GOP wanted to delve into...
,"I am unable to address questions about the opening of the FBI’s Russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment, or matters related to the so-called “Steele Dossier.— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) July 24, 2019
"That is not what the report said" - Mueller in response to Nadler's question if Trump said The Mueller Report exonerates him. #MuellerHearings
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) July 24, 2019
BOOM!
Nadler asks: The President said the report concluded no obstruction. The report doesn't say that, correct?
Mueller: "Right. That is not what the report said."
17/— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) July 24, 2019
If Mueller truly intends to abide by his role as a prosecutor within DOJ and under the AG, as he just said, then he should do exactly what AG Barr has said he should do: give his view on whether or not Trump obstructed justice.
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) July 24, 2019
JUST IN: Read Mueller's full opening statement. #MuellerHearings https://t.co/j8fAyK7xvD
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 24, 2019
Nadler opening statement: “In the Paul Manafort case alone, you recovered as much as $42 million—so that the cost of your investigation to the taxpayers approaches zero.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 24, 2019
