Transcripts For CSPAN Corey Lewandowski To Testify Before House Judiciary Committee 20240714

Democrats want to ignore all of the real evidence of russian interference and hold this fake im because it happened impeachment because it happened under a different president s watch. This all happened under president obamas watch, isnt that correct . Mr. Lewandowski yes, sir. Mr. Chabot and it was the Obama Administration that failed to protect us from the russian interference and influence in our election, isnt that also true . Mr. Lewandowski yes. Mr. Chabot President Trump wasnt president. He wasnt the one that failed to protect the country. If anybody failed, it was the Obama Administration. Is that right . Mr. Lewandowski yes, it is. Mr. Chabot ive said it before and ill say it again. Were wasting valuable Committee Time engaging in this impeachment investigation. The fact of the matter is one thing this committee could be doing is to question Inspector General horowitz concerning the bias against the president at the origins of the Russian Investigation. We could be questioning horowitz about his recent report, how thenf. B. I. Director comey mishandled department memos. This committee has such a rich history, his jurisdiction over a whole lot of has jurisdiction over a whole lot of very significant things. Were spending our time on this fake impeachment, but we could be focused on something that really matters, like immigration , asylum. We have hundreds of thousands of people that have entered our southern border. Generally theyre brought up either individually or in groups, caravans, usually, oftentimes connected with cartels, cartels make a lot of money when they come up here. Theyre told the magic words. Come across the border, they say that theyre in fear and come right into our country and we put them on a bus or on a plane, theyre sent to communities all across the country. Thats something this committee should be working in a bipartisan manner to do something about. Opioids we had 70,000 americans that lost their lives to opioids last year. Thats something within the jurisdiction of this committee, yet we do virtually nothing about it in this committee. The balanced budget amendment. Its something ived in this congress. We have ive introduced in this congress. We do nothing in this committee about attempting to actually pass something that would make us balance the budget every year. Like all our states have to do. So finally, i just want to thank you, again, for appearing at todays hearing. Perhaps your testimony today will finally convince democrats that there are much more important things that this committee could be spending our time on. Rather than continuing to pursue this fake impeachment. A faux impeachment. Bottom line is, they dont have the votes in the house to move forward, for the house to vote for this committee to open up an impeachment inquiry. They dont have the votes. Some of the democrats want to vote for it, some of the democrats would vote against it. But they dont have the votes. So what they do is they spend valuable Committee Time that we could be spending on other important things, on this fake, faux impeachment. And its a shame. Because this committee could be doing so much more on behalf of the American People. With that, i yield back. Mr. Raskin mr. Chairman, point of parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Nadler the gentleman will state his point of parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Raskin the witness is to answer a long line of questions from the gentleman from ohio about whether donald trump had colluded with the russians and about the orins of the Mueller Investigation and so on. But he never testified as to any of those things before special counsel mueller. Can he now continue to invoke this white house rationale that hes confined to the four corners of the Mueller Report, when hes gone way beyond it in his responses to the questioning from the gentleman from ohio . Mr. Nadler regardless of whether he went beyond the four corners of the Mueller Report in the answers that he gave to the last questioner, regardless of that, and im glad to hear he favors the patriots, even though thats not in the Mueller Report, but regardless of the long series of answers that he gave, irrelevant they were to the Mueller Report, the claim of privilege made by the witness is improper, for the reasons set forth in our letter today, to the white house, and to the witness counsel. That said, i will take the claim of privilege under advisement. Mr. Collins did you answer his parliamentary inquiry . You just skipped on to executive privilege here. At least angelina acknowledge that it was not a parliamentary inquiry. Acknowledge that it was not a parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Nadler the gentleman stated his parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Collins it was not. It was a statement. Mr. Nadler the gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chair. Dave cowens its been made clear here youre not mr. Cohen its been made clear here youre not an employ of the white house. And you were a policeman at one time. So you know something about the law. And about following the law. Didnt you think it was a little strange that the president would sit down with you oneonone and ask you to do something that you knew was against the law . Did that strike you as strange . Mr. Lewandowski i disagree with the premise of your question. Mr. Cohen you werent a policeman . Mr. Lewandowski i didnt think the president asked me to do anything illegal. Mr. Cohen you dont think it would have been illegal to ask mr. Sessions to drop the investigation and just go on to future president s and omit everything with this president . Were going to start with the next one about colluding are russia . You didnt think that was illegal to obstruct justice . Mr. Lewandowski the president asked me nothing illegal. Mr. Cohen obviously youve never been a judge and wont be one. All these people asked you, they gave you dictation. He dictated you to a message to give sessions. You had ever been a secretary for the president before and taken dictation or shorthand . Mr. Lewandowski many times. Mr. Cohen we got your qualifications now. You were a secretary. He asked you, outside of white house channels, thats what mueller wrote, that this was outside of white house channels, could it have been he asked you to get the message to sessions because he thought you would do whatever he asked, even if it was illegal or immoral, just like your former boss who said you were an implementer . News reports called you the, quote, president s fornser. U. S. A. Today said your background is a trump guy and not so much as a strategist or Campaign Manager but as a righthand man, a body man and enforcer. Esquire went further and said the one time Campaign Manager for donald trump has the traits of an enforcer and the conflict esolution skills to match. You described yourself in your book, you said, we were fine with whatever role the president wanted us to play. In Donald Trumps army, there were only loyal soldiers. Your previous boss was convicted of corruption and lying to authorities. You were fired from americans for prosperity after being accused of voter fraud. Youre now involved in this. Either you were willing to break the law for politics and mr. Trump or youre some kind of a forrest gump relating to corruption. So maybe let me ask you this. Did the president pick you as enforcer, he thought he would play whatever role he wanted because it was illegal . Is that possibly why he chose you to take this message to sessions . Mr. Lewandowski that would be a question for the president. Mr. Cohen well, donald trump was right, though. First, the white House Counsel, don mcgahn, refused to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mcgahn showed principle and character and refused to do what he knew would be an illegal act. Then attorney general sessions, who had recused himself, was asked to unrecuse himself. But attorney general sessions also did the right thing and he said, im not going town recuse myself because vide a going to unrecuse myself, because id have a conflict. Then the white House Counsel advised the president , not even to contact sessions. But you would do it. You were different than sessions and mcgahn. Trump could depend on you. You did not ask any questions. You were a loyal soldier. You just wrote down message and agreed to deliver it. Thats what he thought. You took the dictation, you gave it to hope hicks, you asked her to type it up for you, and then asked somebody else to deliver the message to sessions, when you decided not to. Donald trump talked to you outside normal channels so there would be no record of anything that he asked you to do to obstruct justice. Nothing to do with that at all. The president knew what he was doing was wrong. Mr. Sessions knew what he was doing was wrong. Mr. Mcgahn knew what he was doing was wrong. You seem to be the only person who didnt think it was wrong. But mr. Trump was wrong. Because at the last minute you got cold feet. You chickened out. The president s trust was misplaced. You decided not to do you what told the president you were going to do and you handed it off to somebody else. Did you realize at some point that your former boss got involved in a criminal problems and went to prison and maybe you were going to be the next one . Next one . Ross did that cross your mind . Did you ever think about your boss situation going to prison . Mr. Lewandowski he went to jail many years after i left his employment. Im sure youre going to clarify that for the record. Mr. Cohen you were his employee and you had Great Respect for him, but you learned from. That im asking, did you learn from his experience and realized that what you were asked to do was illegal and you didnt want to follow the same trail as bob nay and end up in prince. Mr. Lewandowski i wasnt asked to do anything illegal. Mr. Cohen well, the public will determine that. This has been more obstruction of congress by this administration and you followed their instructions and youre doing just what they thought youd do. Youre a loyal soldier. Except you didnt follow trumps instructions, you chickened out at the last minute, you got cold feed feet. I yield back the balance of my time. Soldier except you didnt follow trumps instructions, you chickened out at the last min mr. Nadler the gentleman from ohio. Thank you. You ran President Trumps campaign, you were at the helm of the campaign when President Trump secured the republican nomination. At the helm of the campaign when President Trump secured the republican nomination . Yes. Pretty Good Campaign you ran. Thank you. You beat, what, 17, 18 different opponents, senators, governors, some good senators. Of course you had a pretty good candidate. The best. After you left the campaign i think you left in june of 2016, after you left the head of the campaign, were you still involved with the campaign throughout the rest of the election, all the way up through november 8, 2016. Yes. And that entire time, you were part of the Campaign Operation at some level or another, from january 2015 to november 8th, 2016. During that entire time, do you guys work with russia to impact the election . No. You know whats interesting, when james comey was asked that same question, he gave the same answer. When bob mueller was asked that same question, sitting at that same table, he gave the same answer. Falsely accused, the president is falsely accused of working with a foreign state to impact the election. James comey said after 10 months of investigation we didnt have a thing. Bob mueller gets named special counsel, he wastes 30 million of taxpayer money, he sits at that table just a few weeks ago and gives the same darn answer. But these guys over here, they dont care. They dont care. They dont want to get to what mr. Chabot said. They just want to drag people in front of this committee and keep trying to find some way they can go after the president. Lets go back to the process that the Ranking Member raised. Did you testify in front of the Senate Intel Committee in 2017 . Yes. Did you testify in front of the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 . Yes. And you went before the special counsel and answered his questions in 2018, is that right . It is. And you did that all voluntarily . Yes. No subpoena . No, sir. Said im willing to comply. Yes. I think in your Opening Statement you said how many hours . More than 20. More than 20 hours. And for this committee, did you get a letter from this committee back in march asking you to comply with certain document requests that chairman nadler wanted to have . I believe so, yes. And you complied with that . Yes. And you got another letter asking you to do an interview, a transcribed interview in front of the committee. And your lawyer contacted chairman nadler and said, wed be happy to do that, is that right . Yes. Give us some dates, well come in. Thats right. What happened next . Next about five weeks ago, the committee issued a subpoena for my appearance. So youre willing to come voluntarily, just like you did for the others, bob mueller, special counsel, 20some hours, you complied with when they asked you for certain documents. And then when they want you to come in for an interview, and you said, youd do it, they hit you with a subpoena. Correct. Theyre the ones who started it, theyre the ones who slapped you with a subpoena when you were willing to come here voluntarily. I was. And then the question the demeanor you bring here today. First they change the rules last week in the middle of the congress, change the rules of the committee in the middle of the game and then today theyre not even going to follow the rules because the rules they changed last week talked about staff asking questions after members are done. Weve got this whole issue with consultants. This may be may be we would be better served if we did exactly what mr. Chabot said. Maybe we would be better served as the House Judiciary Committee if we actually focused on how this whole false accusation started in the first place. What do you think, mr. Lewandowski . I think it would be a great idea. Maybe the American People would be better served than spending more time investigating something thats had 32 months of investigation from both james comey and the fbi and bob mueller and the special counsel. You know a great place to start . A great place to start would be the Inspector Generals report that was issued just three weeks ago, the scathing report about jim comey. That would be a nice place to start. When i asked the chairman when we might have an opportunity to question mr. Horwitz, he said, i dont know, i havent thought about that. Of course you havent thought about that. Too busy trying to impeach the president. Too busy slapping subpoenas on Corey Lewandowski. I yield back. The gentleman from georgia. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Lewandowski, you are about like a fish being cleaned with a spoon. Its very hard to get an answer out of you. But let me ask you this, sir, based on the president s past statements, Everybody Knows that the president does not like for anybody to take notes when hes talking. In fact he asked lawyers not to take official notes, and youre aware of that, correct . Im aware of the public accounts, sir. All right. Fair enough. But when the president met with you in the oval office one on one on june 19th, 2017, to dictate a message to attorney general Jeff Sessions, he told you to, quote, write this down, isnt that correct . Thats accurate. And it was just you and the president in that meeting, correct . It was. And you knew that you needed to write down as fast as possible what the president was telling you so you could make sure to capture the content of what he was telling you correctly, correct . I dont know if speed of writing was a criteria, but i tried to capture it to the best of my ability. Thank you, sir. And he dictated exactly what he wanted you to put into the mouth of attorney general Jeff Sessions, correct . I believe he asked me to deliver a message for jeff to consider delivering himself. And it was a message that he intended for jeff, meaning Jeff Sessions, to deliver outloud and publicly. He wanted the public to know what he was saying but he wanted jeff to say it, correct . I believe the Mueller Report accurately depicts that. And mr. Lewandowski, weve projected on the screen the message that the president dictated to you that he wanted you to deliver to the attorney general. Its on the screen and id like for you to read the first two sentences, if you would entertain that. As director mueller stated when asked to read from the report and i quote no, no, no. Look on the would you prefer for me to read it instead of you . Please. It says i know that i recused myself from certain things having to do with specific areas, but our potus is being treated very unfairly. Thats what he told you to write down. And thats what you wrote down. And ill continue. He said he shouldnt have a special prosecutor because he hasnt done anything wrong. Now, thats what he wanted you to deliver to attorney general Jeff Sessions, correct . I believe thats an accurate representation. And he wanted you to deliver it to jeff so that jeff could say it to the people, right . I believe so. And you felt kind of squeamish about delivering that message . No, sir. Why did it take you so long and you never even delivered it . Correct. I never delivered the message. You chickened out . I went on vacation. You went on vacation. And so you put the message in your safe in your home for safekeeping, correct . Before you went on vacation . I took my kids to the beach, that was more of a priority. And President Trump was hounding you about when are you going to deliver that message, correct . Completely inaccurate, congressman. Well, he asked you about it a few times, didnt he . No he did not. He never asked you whether or not you had delivered that message. Not on multiple occasions, no. One occasion, okay . You did mention on one occasion to you. I dont know if thats in the report, sir, or not. And you told him, im going to get around to it, im going to deliver it, correct . I would have to see the reference to the Mueller Report its in the report. Direct me to the book and page i dont need to waste any time with that. But let me tell you something, the next three sentences after those first two, would you read those, please. Youre welcome too. He said he shouldnt have a special prosecutor or counsel because he hasnt done anything wrong. I was on the campaign with him for nine months. There were no russians involved with him. I know it for fact because i was there. Now the president wanted attorney general to say that but you didnt deliver the message and you knew that attorney general sessions had recused himself at that time and since he had recused himself, you knew that it would have been against the law for him to comment in any way on that investigation, isnt that right . I did not know that. You did not know that. You did not know that . Correct. The time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from colorado. Thank you for putting up the harassment that youre putting up with right now. According to the alliance for securing democracy, russia interfered in the elections of belarus, finland, france, georgia, norway, poland, turkey, united kingdom, ukraine and the United States. They specifically targeted the Scottish Independence vote, the brexit vote and angela merkel. Despite knowledge of these kinds of election threats, the Obama Administration sat by. Instead of warning the Trump Campaign, the doj and fbi used secret surveillance to spy on members of the Trump Campaign all while allowing election interference to occur. Why isnt this election focused on Holding Leadership Accountable for this terrible malfeasance and lack of judgment. A former fbi agent said it is to attack and undermine democracy. He said the goal is to leave voters either the institutions are corrupt or you cant trust the vote. Vladimir putin was a former leader of the kgb. In 2016, putins goal could have simple, sow seeds of distrust, make it impossible for whoever won to governor. With america weakened at home, we would be weakened on the international stage. Putin wins regardless of who won the election. After overthrowing a russian czar, the communists utilized western journalists as propaganda tools. A New York Times journalist defended them. L for the past three years, democrats have focused on undermining americas president instead of working with President Trump and republicans and congress to harden our election defenses. I think there would be broad bipartisan support that we need to prevent future election meddling. The Mueller Report makes clear that mr. Trump wanted to protect our democracy from future attacks. Its clear that putin attacked america with the goal of dividing the American People and todays hearing is being held for the sole purpose of attacking americas president which will weaken our country on the international stage. Do you believe that Vladimir Putin is sitting in his office right now in the kremlin laughing at what those on the other side of the aisle are doing and believing that those on the other side of the aisle are useful idiots helping objection. I have a point of order. I have a point of order. According to the rules, and the rules of this committee and the house rules, we cannot attribute derogatory names to our colleagues or motives to our colleagues and i believe the gentleman said those on the other side of the aisle are idiots. This is a sacred responsibility. Ive taken an oath of office. My good friend just like you did. Im concerned about the constitution just as you are and i would not engage in any behavior that could be described as idiot. Never in my life have we ever discussed behaving by idiots. Thats an inappropriate descriptions of the members of this house or republicans or democrats, no matter what position i will i will overrule the point of order. The rules of decorum refer to motive, calling someone an idiot is not flattering but it does not go to motive. And i believe we should have the most robust debate. But i dont think we should but i dont think that goes to motive and im going to overall the point of order. The gentleman will proceed. I didnt call anybody an idiot. I said useful idiot. And secondly i asked the witness whether he believed as part of Vladimir Putins strategy, Vladimir Putin was being aided by useful idiots in america. Your answer, sir . I cant be sure to the motives of Vladimir Putin or the russians who want to interfere with our election process in 2016. Donald trump is a private citizen at the time and he had no more responsibility or authority to secure the integrity of the 2016 election cycle than i did. That responsibility fell to the Intelligence Community and the Obama Biden Administration and they clearly failed. Never did they contact me to inform me or anyone at the campaign at the time of any potential hacking which may have been transpiring, never did they contact us to alert us of any potential security violations as it related to the election and so i think mr. Comey, mr. Brennan, and mr. Clapper ultimately own the responsibilities ahead of the Intelligence Community to understand why they did not do a better job of protecting the american electorate in 2016 to ensure we didnt have foreign interference. And had they contacted you, what would have been your response in terms of notifying others on the election in terms of their dealing with russians . We would have worked with them. I would have recommended working through counsel. If we would have had any, i would have made sure we notified the appropriate authorities immediately. Thank you, i yield back. The gentleman from florida. Thank you. Mr. Lewandowski, i just want to follow up on mr. Johnson. The Mueller Report says one month later, a month after your june 19th meeting after you returned from vacation, the president met again with mr. Lewandowski and followed up. Just to clarify that he did do that, but i want to go back to that meeting on june 19th. The president asked you to write down a script that he wanted the attorney general of United States to deliver. Can you give me the reference again . Well, let me do this, previously you testified because its reported in the Mueller Report that the president asked mr. Lewandowski to deliver a message to sessions. This is page 91. This is the first time that the president asked him to take dictation. The notes that you took at that meeting are on the screen. If you could i dont know that the notes are. Im going to read the section of the notes that you took that were, again, this is what you were asked to deliver to the attorney general of the United States to announce in public. I know i recused myself from certain things having to do with certain areas but ou potus is being treated very unfairly. He shouldnt have a special counsel because he hasnt done anything wrong. There were no russians involved with him, i know for a fact because i was there. He didnt do anything wrong except run the greatest campaign in american history. Thats, again, thats what President Trump wanted the attorney general to say in public about the special counsels investigation. Is that right . I believe thats an accurate representation. So this is in june of 2017. You said that you didnt know about you didnt know about the attorney general being barred from participating, speaking out about the russia investigation. The public didnt know about all of these attempts to influence the investigation at this time. What we did know, what everyone knew, mr. Lewandowski, was that the president s campaign was under investigation and they knew the attorney general couldnt touch it because he was a major part of the campaign. He advised on National Security matters and back in march, he had recused himself from anything having to do with the investigation. You didnt you werent aware of that at all, that what he did in march and the fact that he had rusecused himself . I was aware of the attorney generals recusal. When the president asked you to deliver a speech that he wanted the attorney general who could not participant in the investigation, he recused himself, when the president asked you to deliver that word for word speech for him, that there was no inconsistency with that and the fact that the attorney general had recused himself, you knew that he had and you knew he couldnt participate in any away. Im not an attorney general, congressman. Thats not what im asking. Im asking you if you knew he had recused himself. Im aware of the public reports. And youre aware of the public reports and his statement that he wasnt going to participate in any existing or future investigations of any matters related to the campaign for president , you knew that was out there. So when the president asked you to specifically go in there and ask him to deliver a speech which was contrary to that, forget about being a lawyer, did it strike you as off in any away . Were you concerned in any away . No, sir. Was it the right decision for sessions to recuse himself . I cant comment on Jeff Sessions decisionmaking process. So heres what he did. The script says, a group of people want to subvert the constitution. Im going to meet with the especially prosecutor to explain this is very unfair and let the special prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections. The president was trying to force the investigation to focus only on the future so i didnt focus on him, isnt that right . I dont agree to that. When you look only in the future and youre not allowed to look at the one investigation into the president , thats not how you interpret that . That could be your interpretation. Ill close with this, a month he asked you to do this he brought you in to talk to the attorney general because the president was terrified, mr. Lewandowski. A month before your meeting, the special counsel was appointed and the president said, oh, my god, this is terrible. He wanted you to pressure the attorney general, someone who wasnt allowed to talk about the investigation to block him from looking at his own conduct. Mr. Lewandowski, thats abuse of power and as we go on through this investigation, i hope youll be able to further elaborate on how you could have seen this in any other light than the obvious way the president attempted to abuse his power. I yield back. The witness may answer the question . Thank you. The gentleman from texas. The gentleman from texas, mr. Ratcliffe. Welcome to what my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have described and argued over the past week as an impeachment probe and an impeachment proceeding. Now, if youre confused which one, i assure you youre not alone a. Lot of the folks who are watching today, they might be confused. You see, the democrats, now the party of impeachment, tried that three times and failed miserably three times. Twice before the Mueller Report and then once again after the Mueller Report. So last week, the party of impeachment which is in charge of this committee, changed our rules so that they could get to impeachment in a different way, and mr. Lewandowski, youre lucky, youre the first witness for the party of impeachments new impeachment procedure. I feel very lucky, thank you. I know youve testified before the house, before the senate and before the special counsel, but in fairness, thats when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle were promising the American People that there was going to be impeachment by collusion or impeachment by conspiracy which didnt exist and the special counsel said i didnt exist. And then it had to shift and say its going to be impeachment by obstruction of justice. Remember they promised that special counsel mueller was going to breathe life into impeachment by obstruction of justice, but instead he put it to death. I asked him, can you give me an example other than donald trump where the Justice Department determined that an investigated person was not exonerated because their innocence was not conclusively determined and your answer was they were not. As it turned out, nearly 200 pages of the Mueller Report and the analysis of in volume two of obstruction of justice was done under a Legal Standard and legal burden of proof that is not recognized and ever been used before. But the party of impeachment, were going to gloss over that today. Theyre going to gloss over the fact that the Inspector General criminally referred the fbi director who leaked the information to get the special counsel in the first place and the same Inspector General who found that facts establishing that that same fbi director was targeting donald trump at the same time in an investigation where he said he wasnt investigating donald trump. Now, you might think that this committee would be interested in hearing from that Inspector General for the first time rather than hearing from you for the fourth time. But maybe you can be helpful. The party of impeachment, they dont care, mr. Lewandowski, what kind of impeachment you can deliver for that. There are 135 democrats and socialists in the house of representatives that have publicly come out for impeachment. Theyre in agreement the president needs to be impeached. The problem is, theyve come up with more than a dozen Different Reasons that is the bases of that impeachment, impeachment by collusion, impeachment by conspiracy, impeachment by obstruction of justice, lets cover a few more. Did the first and only president rich enough to largely self fund a successful president ial campaign ever admit to you that he secretly ran for president to get rich . No, sir. Hes already very rich. Do you have any information or evidence, mr. Lewandowski, about crimes the president committed for ignoring congressional subpoenas as a basis of impeachment . I do not. How about dangling pardons. Did the president ever admit or say to you that he would pardon anybody in Law Enforcement who was trying to enforce or protect our territorial borders . At the request of the white house i cant discuss conversations that may or may not have occurred by the president. Did the president ever admit or say to you that he intentionally committed an impeachable, highcrime by magic marker as some of my democratic colleagues are contending . I cant discuss any private conversation i may have had with the president youre not being helpful at all, mr. Lu ewandowski. The party of impeachment are not picky at all. If you got anything on donald trump, how about on Justice Kavanaugh . Because now this morning they say they want to impeach Justice Kavanaugh . Hes a good man. Listen, i i know youre disappointed that youve only been here four times. This committee has become the search party for impeachment and theyre going to bring back anybody as much as they have to to find something, anything to keep this hoax alive. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. 15 seconds over time. The gentle lady from california. Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Lu , i want to follow up. After the president dictated the message, he told you to tell the attorney general that he would be the most popular guy in the country if he delivered that message to limit the investigation to the future, is that correct . Could you remps ference me t that in the report . Yes, volume two, page 92. Is that correct . The president is telling you how to convince sessions to do it. Its page 92, first paragraph. To tell sessions that hed be the most popular guy in the country if he did what the president ordered. And the president picked you for a reason because he knew that you had the traits of an enforcer and described yourself as his loyal soldier. This was no exception. Did you find it now . I have it here. Okay. The attorney general that he would be the most popular guy in the country if he delivered that message, do you see that on page 9 t 92. I do. Is that correct i believe its accurate. Same page. And you did understand what the president wanted. He knew not to create a trail. So looking at the slide, mr. Lewandowski wanted to pass the message to session in person rather than on the phone. Where is that . After you left the oval office, you didnt schedule an official meeting with sessions, instead you called the attorney general at home, correct . If thats whats in the report. You told sessions you wanted to meet in person rather than on the phone. You could have just read the message from the president over the phone, but you knew it would make it harder, so you wanted to meet with him in person, correct . If thats what the report states, yes. The attorney general works at the department of justice, but you told the special counsel that you didnt want to meet in the department of justice because you knew that if you went into a government ability, theres a public log of the visit and you told the special counsel that you did not want to, quote, a public log of your visit, isnt that right . Thats accurate. Why is that . Why didnt you want to leave a paper trail for your visit. Jeff and i are friends socially. And i wanted to have the opportunity to have a meal with jeff and have the conversation which the president asked me to ask jeff to consider giving. Why was there a problem with you having to do it in secret, essentially . It was a very Important Message you were delivering from the president and it was a message that could certainly be viewed as completely inappropriate considering you were not even an employee of the white house. Youre a private citizen. Youre delivering a message to the attorney general to limit the investigation . So if you didnt think you were doing anything wrong, then why would it matter that there was a public log. I wanted to have the opportunity to speak with jeff in a relaxed atmosphere and have a meal with him to have the conversation. You said another reason for not meeting at the doj was because you, quote, did not want sessions to have an advantage over you by meeting on session turf. Is that right . Thats right. I wanted to have a private conversation in a more relaxed atmosphere. Again, if this was an appropriate message to deliver and if it was just about that, why would it matter whos turf it was on . Why couldnt you go to his office and meet with him there . I suppose i could have. But i wanted we have had so many occasions before that. Exactly. I mean, i. Never inside the department of justice. I believe sessions knew it was wrong and sessions cancelled his meeting with you if you guys were good friend, why he have bothered to cancel it . Did he call you up to rereschedule it. That would abquestion for Jeff Sessions. After you testified you testified earlier after the inauguration you didnt communicate with the attorney general often the your geend good friend. Is isnt it fair to say that sessions knew you were calling on behalf of the hpt president and the mental was from him. I have no idea what was in Jeff Sessions mind. To be clear the attorney general knew it was a message from the president and still refused to meet with you. Mr. Lewandowski its clear that sessions knew what we all know sitting here today, that what you were doing was wrong. He wanted nothing to do with secret messages because he knew it was entirely improper for the private citizen to go behind the backs of the white House Counsel and secretly meet with him without any record of the meeting on your turf toed persuade the attorney general to protect the general from president into investigation. And im grad the misconduct can be brought to public attention so the president can be held accountable. The gentle lady ace time is expired. The witness has requested a short recess. The committee will resume in five minutes. The committee stands in recess. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] the House Judiciary Committee taking their first break in this hearing with mr. Lewandowski, who was President Trumps first president ial Campaign Manager. The committee holding this hearing on whether President Trump obstructed justice in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. This, again, the first break in the hearing. It got under way at about 1 00 and we do expect it to resume here shortly. Live coverage on cspan3. At about 1 00 and we expect to resume shortly, live coverage on cspan3. Live from capitol hill this afternoon, the house judiciary fromttee Committee Hearing Corey Lewandowski, president manager. Irst campaign the committee gathering to hear where President Trump obstructed justice. The chair of the committee, jerry nadler, has called this first break in the hearing. To reconvene shortly. President trump has been paying attention to this hearing. He president , from the associated press, president watching former Campaign Aide beforeewandowski testify the houses impeachment hearings. Lewandowski wasnt asking answering questions on the Mueller Report. It devolved into chaos. From air force one, such a beautiful Opening Statement by Corey Lewandowski. Thank you, corey. From the president. And if you miss any of our coverage, we will reair it on cspan, beginning at 9 00 eastern. Tonight on cspan beginning at 9 00 eastern. The committee will reconvene. The gentleman from florida, mr. Gates is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Well the Mueller Report was supposed to be the end all, be all, the ground grounds swell of support for impeachment. Ensuring the public would want to tar and feather the president. Run him out of rail. Grief the American People of the president they duly elected that didnt turn out to be the case then it was all about the attorney general coming in bill barr would point out the inconsistenty as flaws in the analysis. That didnt happen because the marmgt wanted to insist that their unelected staff ask questions of the attorney general of the United States. But no they said well go to court. Well win. Well forepersons bill barr and don mcgahn to testify. Theyre not winning in court. Theyre not here. Its a joke. For the last four months the path the the marmt has taken us on has rambled from disorganized to just downright dizzying. In june Speaker Pelosi i had said the House Democratic caucus was im quoting not even close to an impeachment inquire that to cnn. In july House Judiciary Committee jerry nadler said, quote, an impeachment inquiry is when you consider only impeachment. Thats not what were doing. Were investigating all of this. But then in august in a cnn interview nadler said, this is formal impeachment proceeding. Then in september when asked if the democrats are nijd in an impeachment inquiry, the house jarjt leader answered, no. It was the gentlelady from washington who said just recently miss jieple. We have been in the midst of a impeachment investigation to politico but in the the same sore mr. Himself from connecticut said no we are not in an impeachment investigation. Then the gentleman from new york. Gregory meeks said when asked if the house was investigating impeach, he said, well be process maybe there is we dont know whether impeachment investigation investigation has begun. It just didsing eying. Last week the jordin chairman jerry nadler said who what were doing very clear. Its been very clear. It continuing tobs clear the speaker backed us at every point along the way. This process has been about as clear as joe bidens last answer to Race Relations that involved turning on the record player. We content know where we are or what were doing. Now mr. Down doukz i am not allowed by house rules to impugn the motivesive of my colleagues or speculate as to what might be dmting this businesses bizarre circumstance but those rules dont apply do you have a thought we why we engage in the char aid overwhelmly opposed by the American People and fundamentally misunderstood by my democrat colleagues . You know, congressman i think they hate this president more than they love their country. Mr. Lewandowski, mr. Lewandowski, you were the Campaign Manager for the president s campaign when the Obama Biden Administration was notified that there might be efforts by the russians to interfere with our election. Isnt that right . Yes. And can you describe us the briefing you got as the Campaign Manager to ensure that our system was resilient and american democracy was protected . There was no briefing provided by anybody from the Obamabiden Administration. Members of the Intelligence Committee or the fbi to our campaign when i was present or during my tenure as a Campaign Manager. Thats just baffling to me. I mean our democracy is so preshz. We have to cherish and protect it. And yet when the Obamabiden Administration knew that there might be nefarious efforts to interfere or cooperate or any way disturb our democracy they didnt say anything to you. Now as you sit here today watching the facts unfold, do you have any any rationale as to why maybe the clapper, brennan, comby ob obama, biden team didnt want to give the the Trump Campaign about o a fir defensive briefing about the threats we were facing. Its unfathomable they didnt contact the Major Political nominee for president of the United States and inform them of potential threats against the election process in 2016. And we can be finding that out now. I could we could have the people before our committee to figure out what happened that didnt allow us to get the answers. One final question for you mr. Lewandowski as an Inspector General employed by the United States government ever accused you of breaking the law. No. But they have with james comey. Yet the leadership of this committee will not bring james comey before even though the Inspector General said his work impaired the credibility and efforts of over 35,000 fbi agents and the brave people fighting for our country. Its a shame that youre here mr. Lewandowski. Jim comey should be sitting in the chair answering questions about why he did so much damage to the fbi and our country, chewing not giving you the briefing that you were entitled to. I yield back. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new york. Thank you, mr. Nadler. About before i begin let me remind plu lewandowski this is not a republican primary campaign. You are not on the campaign trail yet. This is the House Judiciary Committee. Act like you know the difference. Youve never worked for the Trump White House in any official capacity, correct . Thats right. But you do speak with President Trump with some regularity, true. Inch thats a fair statement. In fact during the summer of 2017 according to testimony to the special counsel you were summoned to the white house by president on teeft at least two ongdss, correct. I dont believe the report says that, congressman. Well you met with the president oneonone on june 19th 2017 and then again july 19th, 2017, correct. Yes, i believe thats accurate. Okay lets try to get some clarity on what exactly you do for donald trump since youre not a government employee. You it staed during the 2016 Republican National convention that i got the reputation as a tough guy. Thats my reputation. Do you recall making that statement mr. Lewandowski . I dont. Okay. Its in the public record. Your job is Donald Trumps political enforcer, correct. No, i dont believe so. Let me ask you the question another way are you the hitman, bagman, lookout or all of the bo. I think im the good looking man, actually. President trump told you on june 19th, 2017, to personally deliver a message to attorney general sessions that would have end the criminal investigate investigation to the Trump Campaign, correct. I dont believe thats what the Mueller Report states, no. President trump wanted attorney general sessions to limit the special counsels investigation to future incidents of election foreign interference, true . Which page is that on, congressman. Thats in the public record, in this hearing in the Mueller Report. Now the white house has a legal protocol for president ial statements under the president ial records act they must preserve all memos letters emails, papers like the note he dictated. You wrote down the president s message which you stored in a safe in your home. Isnt that correct . Yes, it is. Okay. You told the peshl counsel that was your standard procedure with sensitive items, correct . Where is that referenced sensitive zbliemts volume two, page 92. Just reference that one second. You dont have to reference it. The president asked you to. You say page 90. The president asked you to reclaiming my time, the president asked you to record a message from him on june 19th, because he wanted to hide his message from eventual disclosure. Isnt that right . No. Okay. But you never delivered the message to Jeff Sessions after that june 19th meeting, true . Thats accurate. Instead you testified that you went on vacation, correct. I did. How long was your vacation, mr. Lewandowski . Oh it was lengthy, at least two weeks. At least two weeks. But you were summoned against to the white house on july 19th, 30 days after the original june 19th meeting, true. I believe thats accurate. You with werent on vacation the entire time, correct. I didnt say i was on vacation the entire time. I was on vacation two weeks, congressman. But you still failed to deliver the message appear had nothing to do at least in part to the socalled vacation. Now the july 19th meeting occurred just a few days after new information came to life about russian operatives meeting with highlechl Trump Campaign officials. When you were summoned to the white house after the july 19th meeting by that time you still hadnt delivered the message to Jeff Sessions. You said to the president you would do it soon according to volume 2, page 93, correct. If thats what the report says, thats accurate. Okay. President trump also asked you to deliver a message to attorney general sessions that you didnt do with what was requested he would be fired, correct, volume 2, page 93 . I think thats what was reported, yes. Okay, President Trump wanted you to intimidate attorney general sessions. Youd have to ask President Trump that. You stated earlier that President Trump asked you to take down dictation, quote, many times. Is that correct . It is. But on page 91, volume 2 of the Mueller Report states the quote the president asked lewandowski to delivered a message to exceptions and said, write this down. Close quote. The first time the president asked lewandowski to take direct dictation, the first time. Those are not my words those are the investigators words. Did you lie about it to mueller or lying to us. I didnt lie. Youre not really here to tell the truth, you are here to participate in a continuing coverup, russia interfered with this action and sweeping and systematic fashion. The Trump Campaigned remgd the assistance at the highest level there was squint acts of obstruction of judges investigation wrekts to the. The American People. Mr. Chairman. The gentleman yields back. I think it was 19 seconds over to help you, mr. Chairman. The gentleman from louisiana mr. Johnson. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Lewandowski, my colleague mr. Jefferiys started the last line of questioning with a sort of an admonition to you. He said this is the House Judiciary Committee and not a Political Forum and it would be nice if you recognize that. I think it would be nice if all the members of the committee would recognize that. Because thats the reason that this is this has turned into such a fares. Its been said so many times today, this medicated is so important to the country has one of the broadest jurisdictions so many Critical Issues facing the country. You referenced some of this in the Opening Statement. And i among many cleeks are ready to get to work for the American People but were here today. Hasnt been any gork rks there is a lot of disappointed people operatives around the country really hoping for fireworks. But were not sacrificed taufl. I have a couple of questions for clarification for the record. But first, is there anything been said today or any question youve backup asked or something you would like to compensate on to clarify the record . No, sir. All right in questioning today, is the majority investigating any new allegation or issue or fact not already investigated by the house and Senate Intel Committees or the special counsels office . Not to the best of my knowledge. Do you have any more information on any other matter related to either collusion or obstruction that you can offer to this committee that you have not already shared with congress or the special counsels office . I dont believe i have any new information. In your prior testimony to the special counsel, is it true that you answered every question asked of you truthfully and to the best of your ability and your recollection . To the best of my recollection i did answer truthfully, yes. A couple of things just for further clarification, we are afraid some of the record will be obscured today. These will be quick rapid fire. Do you agree there is no evidence that the president intended to obstruct justice. I do. Do you agree the president has been harassed politically sense the since the day he took office. Yes i do. Do you agree that the president s supporters have received vastly durcht treatment than the supporters of Hillary Clinton. Unequivocally. You called in a witch hunt i wonder if youd like to elaborate on that any further. I think i think that this fake russia collusion narrative is the greatest crime committed against the American People in our generation if not ever. This is a president who was duly elected by the American People and mentals of certain bodies refuse to accept the election results. If this were done by a different president to a Different Party the same way it was done to donald trump, that person would already be thrown out of fs office and people would be in jail. But when you support Hillary Clinton and barack obama its a different set of rules. I think the American People find it unfair and theres been no accountability at the highest levels of gov government for the pfizer abuse frans pierd pierg. The fieing in vital of the Fourth Amendment or the lives ruined because they wanted to support a candidate for president of the United States and its shameful. We do as well. Thats a pretty good recitation some some of issues keeping us up at night. Part of the think were concerned about is the American Peoples distrust now of institutions. When people begin to doubt that the rule of law actually replies equally, that justice really is blind in this country, that we reach somewhat of a Tipping Point its did you have to put that genie back in the bottle. I know the republicans and kefbts on the macare concerned will the eroding faith in institutions. I commend you for your wanting to take the fire food. And your story being selfmade and im concerned about young people who may have a disincentive to get into politics and is everybody this their country because of the abuse they have suffered yield to mr. Jorden i thank the gentleman. You know why you didnt get a defensive briefing from the fbi . I do not. I got a good idea. I think they were trying to trap the president. Page 17 of the Inspector Generals report points this out. January 6, 2017, they go up to the trump tower whep its president elect trump and trying to set him up about a pending investigation. All the while mr. Comey has been telling the president , youre not under investigation. Of course they didnt give you as defensive briefing during the campaign or even up until that date because they were trying to is set him up. But we cant ask about that. Because mr. Nadler hasnt even thought when he is going to bring mr. Horowitz in to ask our questions hed rather subpoena you even though youre willing to come voluntary thats the problem thank you for vaelding i yield. I yield back mr. Kmarm. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman rhode island. In between the first meeting on second meet meeting with the president on july 19ing you went on vacation and during that time there was public are the rowing about the trump tower meeting, correct, this is on page 92. If its in the report i believe it to be accurate. July 19th when the president for a second time asked you to deliver the meng to sessions you said i quote wsh the message would be delivered soon, page 93, correct . Page 93. But you didnt you didnt call Jeff Sessions didnt try to meet with him. The president asked you twice in the oval office to deliver a secret message to the attorney general of the United States and a message that you quickly wrote down word for word at the president s direction, correct . Sir. I believe i wrote it down. And when you worked for the president during the campaign it you ever ignore or disobey directions from President Trump. I didnt believe it to be an order. Aflt you were not working for the president in any capacity you wanted to give the president the impression that you were going to follow his orders, correct . No. Well you said im going to take care of it . Is that referenced in the report. Did you tell the president you were going to deliver the message. I cant comment on the private conversationsky read the statement the white house trekted i not disclose the substance of any discussion was the president or his advisers to protect the executive branch confidentiallety. Do stoent skaul me on the questions. Would you like me to answer the request he. Rather than bin you are here with the president of the United States. In the oval office. He is directing you to deliver a message to the chief law and Law Enforcement officers in the United States which you understood would effectively end the Ongoing Investigation into this president and his campaign. So you told the president that the message would be delivered soon. But then this is on page 93 you immediately follow in the meeting with the president you gave dearborn the message, the president abt dictated to be delivered to sessions. I believe thats what the report says. You didnt tell the president you had already asked dearborn to deliver the message. You just said it would be delivered soon. On page 92, correct . Its on page 92. You didnt want to tell the president that you were passing off his message to someone else . Did you you knew he wanted you it someone he described as his enforcer, a loyal soldier to do it because the president trusted you, isnt that right. Thats a question for the president , sir. Then why didnt you deliver the message to mr. Dearborn to Jeff Sessions directly. Why did you give it to mr. Dearborn to do. I think ive testified i was out of town. For two weeks. Thats right. I dont live in town. Unlike you sir i dont live in town. During your second meekt the oval office the president told you if sessions wolbert meet you to it testimony him he was fiertd. Did you ever threaten the attorney general that if he didnt meet with you he would be fired . No. Did you tell mr. Dearborn to tell sessions that he would be fired if he didnt take this meeting as the president directed. Congressman the white house what is skresed i not disclose the content any the discussion with the president or advisers to protect confidentiallety. You didnt deliver it because you know it was wrong, isnt that correct . No. Well the the president wasnt woor you ignored the directive to tell Jeff Sessions he was fired if he didnt meet with you was he. What was the question. Ill move on to prove to the attorney general that the threat was real four days later on july 22nd, the president directed priebus to to get session foss resign immediately. Do you know that. No. This evidence as a whole strongly suggesting that the president was reinforcing to sessions that his job was on the line at the same time the the president believed you were delivering the mental to enthe investigation into the 2016 campaign. All of this made everyone very uncomfortable. Including mr. Dearborn which is a at page 93. And he told you that he was uncomfortable being a messenger to sessions be with correct . No. Well, were you aware when you asked Rick Dearborn to deliver this message to the attorney general on behalf of of the president of the United States it created the same legal kulpability for you as if you delivered the mental to yourself . Are you aware of this. Congressman, the president deduct didnt ask me to do anything lefl and never asked me to keep a secret. Are you aware when you asked mr. Dearborn to deliver the eng to end the eggs investigation and focus on future investigations you thought you were protecting yourself but you were in fact committing a crime. Rick dearborn snu delivering the message it was wrong. You knew it was wrong. Thats why being asked to deliver it you passed it to him had and never followed up. Fwes what, i also think its very, very wrong. Nask i think the president private citizen to scare the attorney general is obstruction of justice plain and simple. I yield back. The time of the gentleman has expired. The witness may answer the question. I dont believe there was a question. Very well. The gentleman from gentleman from arizona is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Lewandowski, thank you for being here today. Youve come voluntarily. Youve heard slanderous i cant aed on you had people refer you to as a gutted fish a, a chicken. People implied you are here to lie. Thats unfortunate. And its its beneath this committee, quite frankly. Here ostensibly thet tell me to hear the truth our here to tell the truth correct mr. Lewandowski. Yes, sir. Youve told the truth reemtedly. I see a list of 302s when you were talking to the fbi, right. Y he. Zblier and those 302s they didnt record that. Those are afterward, after notes, right. I believe thats right. You gave testimony to the Intel Committees of both houses, right . I did, yes. Yeah and so here you sit here today, and you gave testimony to and you gave interviews i think roughly 20 hours of interviews to the mueller team, right . Yes, sir. And if we look at this Mueller Report we see your name in various places throughout the Mueller Report, right, fair enough. Ive never read the report but i think thats accurate. Youre not unwise to have read the report. Nobodys read the report. I read the report. Weve been looking for you. Your name is all over this report. Oddly enough when you were asked by a member of the other side to look at volume 2, page 86 and they wanted you to testify to it, you might be surprised your name is not mentioned on that page. Do you know that . Youre in the even mentioned there. They were asking you questions to comment about things where your name is not there. Did you know that . Knows. That same person asked to you talk about page 49 and 50, volume 2. Guess whose names dont appear there, yours . Did you know that. No i didnt. Its odd isnt it that they would be asking you to comment on pages that you werent even there. So lets lets a little bit more about some of what members of congress have done. Theyve spent two years claiming without evidence that then didnt o candidate drufrt and the trump kban colluded with russia as a emin of the campaign you responded today. How do you respond . Would you like to expand on that again today. During my tenure at the campaign, congressman as i said in my Opening Statement never do i believe i had any interaction with any foreign agents. Foreign agencies or foreign governments attempting to impact the outcome of the election. Ive said publicly if nib did impact attempt to impact the election in a legal manner i hope they spend the rest of heir lives in jail. We flo that on january 2019 on the Chris Matthews show a member of this committee was asked do you believe the president right now ha has been an apgt of the raasch russians. That was me. That member said yes. Chris matthews sfold up and said agent like in the 1940s for a foreign power that individual responded he is working on behalf of russians yb we. Still believe that. Mr. Chairman. The gentleman from mr. Arizona has the time. Arizona has the time. Id like id like ten seconds added back. He has ten seconds in any event. So as at a close friend personally and adviser of the president member of the Trump Campaign how do you respond to that accusation bay a member of the committee made months and months ago even before the Mueller Report came out and said there was no collusion or coordination . You know, congressman i find it beneath the dignity of the president of the United States to accuse somebody of that while i didnt support president obama when he was the president , didnt vote for him i still wanted my country success so i wanted him successful. En and i think the faceless, baseless accusations against our president and are unfounded and unwarranted i want to cover the last little bit of this. We here today lots of questions about a meeting you had with the president regarding Jeff Sessions and some note that was dictated to you. That was after special counsel mueller was appointed, wasnt it . I believe it was, yes. Did the president ask you to stop mr. Mueller or to encourage mr. Sessions to stop the Mueller Investigation at any point . President congressman, i cant speak to or disclose the substance of discussion was the president or advisers to protect the branch confidentiallety. Appreciate that. In. I will tell you in going through the report there is no indicia the president ever asked that you or mr. Sessions stop the Mueller Investigation. In fact the Mueller Investigation went on unimpeded. Thousands of interviews, millions of documents, and with that my time is expired, mr. Chairman. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from california. Mr. Lewandowski im putting a slide up and its the words that President Trump dictated to you on jug 19. Can you read what you wrote down . Im happy to have you read it congressman. Why dont you want to read it mr. Lewandowski. I think afford me the same privilege you afraided director mueller. Would you like to read it. No youre welcome to read it. Are you ashamed of the words you wrote down . President swal valuele im happy when i wrote you ared welcome to read. Are are you ashamed of anything. Why dont you read the words. Congressman, ive asked and answered your question. Mr. Lewandowski why wont you read the words. If you had youd like to read the words youre welcome to. You were ashamed to read them out loud and you didnt deliver the words to the person the president asked you to did you have a consciousness of guilt . I have nothing to be guilty of congressman. You still feel godly today. Congressman youre welcome to read the words if you like. I wonder why you cant. I have the capacity to congressman ill give you privilege. You said the president did nothing wrong why cant you read the words right now . Why cant you read them aloud. Tell me why you hold me a different asked than preach previous witnesses mo sat here. I want to give you one more opportunity to clear up something you said earlier per. You said nauchlt if it was in the Mueller Report it was accurate except as it relates to you stating that this was the only time the president ever asked you to write something down. Are you saying that that parts not accurate . Id ask the stop the clock while he confers with his lawyer. The clock will be stopped for five seconds. Could i see the page and Reference Number on that, congressman. Sure, page 9, line 7 and 8 i will read to you thchs the first time the president asked lewandowski to take dictation. Are you saying that is not accurate. Im saying those arent buy words, congressman. Im schooling you was that the first time the president ed ask you to take digtation. Ive testified its not the first time. This part would be inaccurate. Im saying i have taken by dictation by the candidate and the independent the past. Have you ever put any words the president asked you write down before in a safe or was this thes firps time you had done that. I believe its my Standard Operating Procedure when taking notes, congressman. Every note you take of the president you put a safe . S how big is the safe sfl its a big safe. There is a lot of guns in there. Is the first time you put a secret message from the president he wanted you to deliver to someone else in a safe. I dont believe there is anything secret about the message. Pip i was never told to keep the message secret. Is this the tiers time you put a message from the president in a safe. Not to the the best of my recollection. I want to go back to the day later after the president asked you to deliver the message he was interviewed by the New York Times. In the next slide shows that he said sessions should have never rekusz the himself if he was going to rekuz himself he should have told me before he took the job, i would have picked someone else. Thats not what the president said to you during that meeting oneonone with in the oval office is that right. The white house has directed that i not disclose the substance of any discussions with the president or his advisers to protect exclusive branch confidentiallety. Id like to stop the clock for a parliamentary choir yao. Gentleman will state the inquiry the clock will be stopped. I had like to request a ruling on the witnesss refusal to answer. Mr. Lewandowski, when you refuse to answer these questions you are obstructing the work of our committee. You are also proving our point for the American People to see. The president is intent on obstructing our legitimate oversight. You are aiding him in that obstruction. And i will remind that you article iii much the impeachment president nixon was based on obstruction of congress. You are instructed to answer the question. The clock will start again. Mr. Chairman. Parliamentary choir yao. The clock will stop again. The gentleman will state the inquiry. Is it correct and i can reap repeat or you can let me see the sheet that reference you maid to nicken was after a formal inquiry put to the house and broad about a bought your name is different i wanted to point out strugt to the record i yield back. I have a parliament yes inquire joo zpl first of all not a parliamentary inquiry didnt ask anything. Judge zbra will the sfat the inquire judge. Did you threaten to kbech mr. Lewandowski, a private citizen . No. And the plain import of of what i said was that he is violating the law by refusing to answer the questions. The president is violating the law by instructing him and others not to answer the questions. And article iii of the nixon impeachment was based on this kind of obstruction of congress by president nixon. One further inquiry mr. Chairman. The jae gentleman will state the inquiry. Does that mean then pursuant to your statement that this is an official impeachment that were in. I have stated repeatedly that this committee is and we amended our rules to empower the chairman to designate specific aerg hearings i with i did for this hearing is pursuant to finding out to determine whether we should vote articles of giannecchiniment against the president thats what this is. Thank you. The gentleman from california za will continue. Mr. Lewandowski ill ask you again, this whats kplad displayed on the side is not what the president told you in the oneonone meeting, is that correct . Are you refusing to answer mr. Lewandowski . No, congressman as ive explained in a letter from the white house dated september 16th, 2019. Mr. Luna. From my attorney. Mr. Lewandowskis conversation was the president and with senior advisers to the president protected from disclosure. Can we stop the clock for the instructive. Int po of order and id ask the clock be stopped. Clob will be stopped. Id ask. Excuse me the gentleman will state the point of order. Point of order mr. Chairman is this witness continuing to obstruction obstruct the work of the committee by refusing to answer questions. He has been ordered to do so by you i ask that you judge him in contempt in the proceedings. Pinpoint of order thats not a proper parliamentary inquire. It was a point of order. I will take that under advisement. Thank you, mr. Kmarm. The gentleman will continue. Are you refusing to answer yes or no. Congressman im anticipate to answer the question let me have the privilege to do so. As explained below mr. Lewandowskis conversations with the president and with senior advisers to the president are protected from disclosure by long set of principles protecting executive branch confidentiality as a result the white house has directing mr. Lewandowski not to provide information about such communications about the information provided in the portions of the other than the portions of the row already disclosured to the committee the gentleman ha has the time not the witness. Im asking if youre not g going to answer just say a refusal to answer we dont need to be read the instructions from the white house. Im moving on. In that New York Times interview hours after the president s spoke to you, he never said in fact i just enlisted mr. Lewandowski to deliver a secret message to the attorney general for him to direct the special counsel to limit the investigation. He said to you something that he did not say just hours publicly, is that right. I have no idea what he said to the New York Times. Mr. Lewandowski would you agree that delivering a secret message in the way in president did as a former Law Enforcement officer hass who has investigated gangs and moblike behavior that this is consistent with that . I take exception to your premise of the question. It was a secret message. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back, the jae from california. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Well mr. Lewandowski welcome to the judiciary committee. You know, you and the president are accused by the majority of a coverup of foreign collusion, but the mueller team of partisans, try though they did couldnt find evidence of collusion. Since you stand accused of this crime im kind of curious, how do you cover up a crime that never happened . Its a great question, kmsz, i dont know the answer. Youve been watching the crux of the majoritys case is that the president asked you to suggest to the attorney general that he should say that the president is being treated unfairly and had done nothing wrong. Is that essentially the accusation against you . It seems to be, yes. Well i think the president is clear the president was being treated unfairly and he had done nothing wrong. Yes yet its upon this pretext the democrats feel justified to invoke impeachment. The solemn power reserved to the congress for treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors. Its the power to nullify the constitutional election of the president of the United States, a decision made by the American People. Does that sound like an abuse of power in this case to you . It does. Certainly does to me too. For more than three years now our nation mab torn apart by this monstersous lie that the president of the United States was a willing agent of a hostile foreign power. Id like to ask you where do you think this whole lie of russian collusion started . You know, congressman i dont have the facts on it. But i think when Inspector General horowitz has the privilege of coming and testifying he will testify this this began at the highest levels of the government and was perpetrated through the Intelligence Committee ch community to come up with a narrative of kwie Hillary Clinton lost the campaign as as opposed to the real narrative of why donald trump won the campaign. In actually began before the election. Do you believe the u. S. Government through its justice appear intelligence agencies deliberately interfered with the 2016 president ial election . I believe there are members of the Intelligence Community who have been referred for criminal referral for perjury and other crimes, should be held accountable for using badges and guns to influence the election, spy on american citizens in a clear violation of the 4th amendment and falsifying fisa applications for the explicit purpose of trying to prevent of an individual from being ekt eyed president of the United States. If were serious about protecting the american political process from unwarranted interference, either by foreign governments or by our own government, where should we be looking . I would recommend Inspector General horowitz, u. S. Attorney dlam in the midof investigation finance if i were a chairman or maybe some day in the upper chairman will bring before us james clab clapper come yn and brenty o in ask the questions under oath that seemed to ee lieu them. We have subbed suggested to the majority that we need to do that but so far the requests have fallen on deaf ears. But here is the picture as more information comes to light. We have a phoney dossier produced by the Clinton Campaign and disinformation channelled to George Papadopoulos through Joseph Mifsud who turns out has a long history of involvement with intelligence agencies including cia. Used to justify a sham investigation. The investigation was then leaked to the the press to give credence to the false narrative. Is that what you see taking shape with the evidence thats slowly coming out. I think thats exactly right. Pap and you look at the role that bruce orr and nellie oorr has the fusion gps. They at least notified the fisher the lack of credibility of Christopher Steele and of the information he provided. Just give us pause that sum such a small number of individuals at the fbi had the power to set in motion to prevent a person from being elected president of the United States with no evidence what so far. I think the importance of this cant be be overstated. We entrust the most stretching powers the government possesses to the agencies, hitler lir the power to ruin lives, spien you, incarcerated you, to launch predawn raids on your home. The abuse of the powers for political purposes would be a direct threat to the most fundamental freedoms we have as americans and fundamental institutions of ou democracy. I should think that that would be of some passing interest to every member of the committee. Yield back. Earlier in your testimony i the love of country which the members of the medicate i dont question your love of the country. You made a stunning concession which is you had not read the Mueller Report. That explains a lot about your testimony. Im thinking maybe you dont know what the special counsel actually found. Im going to tell you. Volume 1 of the Mueller Report found that the russians attacked american elections in a sweeping and systematic manner. It also found that the Trump Campaign knew about the attack, gave internal polling dat to russias planned a Campaign Strategy around the attack. Its no Robert Muellers testimony under oath in frocht of the Intel Committee as well as this committee. The reason we are today is because volume 2 finds that the president tried to obstruct that investigation into the russian attack on at least ten instances, five of which Robert Mueller found there was substantial evidence. Im putting up a slide about what the special counsel found about this particular incident in which you are involved. He found substantial evidence gnat president s effort to have sessions limit the scope of the special counsel investigation to future election sbrerchs was sbrent intended to prevent future investigation and skrutly of the president and his conduct. Thats why we are here today. I think its important to look at the time line to understand how this all unfolds. You previously testified that on march 2017 that you were aware that attorney general sessions recused himself, did that march 2017. Im putting up a slide about what the white House Counsel office directed about communications with sessions. It said that sessions should not be contacted, no contact with sessions and no serious concerns about that instruction. Did you ever get that instruction from anyone not to contact sessions at all . No. Okay, thank you. A few months later the media reports that the obstruction investigation Russian Investigation turns obstruction investigation to the president himself and when donald trump learns about this, he goes nuts. Is that correct . I dont know that to be accurate. The president launched over ten tweets very shortly thereafter, calling the investigation a witch hunt. Thats correct, isnt it . I dont know that to be accurate. He did. So then he calls don mcgahn at home and says that mueller has to go. Call me back when you do it. Were you aware of that, that he called don mcgahn at home to fire Robert Mueller . No. Few days after that, the president calls you into his office, you admitted that he dictated a message to give to Jeff Sessions. You said you didnt give it to Jeff Sessions because you went on vacation. The attorney general canceled that meeting, correct . The attorney general canceled the meeting that you tried to give the note to. Where is that reference in the report, congressman . Page 92. Ill give you the courtesy, ill read it for you. Lewandowski called sessions. Sessions had it canceled due to a lastminute conflict. Do you remember that . I believe thats accurate. A little later on july 8th, the media writes additional negative information about the president s campaign, including that his senior advisers and his son met with russian operatives who had dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of russia and its governments support for mr. Trump. Donald trump calls you back into his office again, alone for a meeting. And this time he tells you that sessions is going to be fired if he doesnt meet with you. Do you recall that conversation . I took that as a joke. You took that as a joke . After that, the president goes on tv and he says, sessions should never have recused himself and he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he tookt job and i would have pecked somebody else. Do you think the president was joking about that on tv . I dont know whether he was or not. When the president met with you alone, to ask whether you delivered the note to sessions, did you think that was a joke . I cant discuss a private conversation with the president. Its in the note, sir. Okay. I yield back. Gentleman yields back. Gentle lady from arizona . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Lewandowski for being here today voluntarily. First we have the steele doss r dossier, which turned out to be a false report funded by the Clinton Campaign and the Democrat National committee and apparently was used to spy on the Trump Campaign and initiate the special counsel investigation. Then for two years, weve heard from democrats on tv, heard it over and over again from some on this committee that they had proof, proof that the president had colluded with russia. Guess what, the Mueller Report comes out and they lied. It was totally false. There was no collusion, no conspiracy. Then my democratic colleagues had to switch gears because they knew that one failed. They said its obstruction of justice. They brought in Robert Mueller, tried to question him, did everything they could. That one flopped. Here we are today, hauling you in. Who knows who theyll haul in next. Theyre trying anything and everything. And, you know, i just dont know when its going to end. I want to read a quote from on april 19th, 2019, shortly after the release of the Mueller Report, emmitt flood, special counsel to the president , wrote about the abuses by executive branch employees. He said in the partisan commotion surrounding the released report, it would be well to remember that what can be done to the president can be done to any one of us. Do you agree with this statement . I do. And mr. Lewandowski, i have to tell you, im scared for our country. Im scared when i read this Mueller Report, whats been going on with a false dossier that was apparently used to spy on americans. And if that can be done to the president of the United States, this can be done to anyone. And so i ask you, mr. Lewandowski, do you think that the democrats will go to any length to undermine the president of the United States and influence the 2020 election . Congresswoman, i believe in this democracy of the United States and i love this country. And i think partisan politics is so important, i think the fact that were the greatest, freest country in the world is paramount to everything that we do. Although we may disagree in this committee and i believe that this president treated exceptionally unfairly, i think at the end of the day, we all believe that a free and Fair Election is the best way and the best method for ensuring the safety and security of our democracy. Do i have concerns based on the 2016 election . Seeing the abuses of a small minority that have impacted so many . You bet i do. Am i concerned that as our children and grandchildren grow up we look back on this time in our nations history and say that should never have been allowed, not to a republican and never to a democrat . You bet i do. But at the end of the day, partisan politics aside, and to mr. Lieus point, we all love our country. We may have disagreements but i dont think anybody wants to see someone not elected properly or the interference of foreign agents or individuals in this country to negatively impact the outcome of an election, because we are better than that. This country is the greatest country in the history of our planet and we should never forget that. And sometimes, maybe just sometimes, partisan politics can take a backseat to doing whats right for our country. Thank you, mr. Lewandowski. I yield the balance of my time to mr. Jordan. I thank the gentle lady for yielding and thank the gentleman for his wellworded answer to the last question. With the campaign that you ran and were involved with, George Papadopoulos and carter paige, mr. Papadop ochoulos was done overseas with foreigners. Major partys nominee for the highest office in the land spice on two american citizens. Were you, as the Campaign Manager, ever notified or was anyone at the campaign ever notified that that was going on when it was happening . No, sir. I yield back. Thank you. The gentleman yields back. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Chairman, some of our gop colleagues have suggested that our time would be better spent work on protecting the 2020 elections. We must assume that they just have completely forgotten about the passing on june 27th, 2019, the securing americas federal elections act, which authorizes 600 million to modernize and secure our election infrastructure, mandates the use of verified paper ballots and risk limiting audits and bans alcoholsability on devices for which ballots are marked or counted. Perhaps they forgot about it because all of them voted against it except one republican and the entire Democratic Caucus voted to support it. Were still hoping Mitch Mcconnell decides to take up that legislation. So who are the useful identiiot . I suppose we could have a conversation about that later. Mr. Lewandowski, you said some things about what you want to investigate about the deep state when you become a u. S. Senator. About your Upcoming Service as a senator, would you accept this view of socalled gaetz . Iality we will continue to have live coverage of the hearing request advisor Corey Lewandowski online and you can watch on cspan3. Getting ready to join members on of the house as they gavel back in considering six several dealing with child safety. Lawmakers will also debate and ans Department Issues funding for historically black olleges and universities, tribally controlled colleges and other Higher Education institutions that serve minorities. Any votes requested will be held at 6 30 eastern. Expected to lso vote on starting negotiations with the senate over defense and policy rograms over the next year including troop numbers, pay increases and programs. Live house coverage here on cspan. The chair will postponefurther proceedingses on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or votes object jeggetted under clause 6 of rule 20. The house will resume proceedings on postponed questions at a later time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition