Thank you, mr. Chairman. Welcome, everyone, to the last gas of the russia collusion Conspiracy Theory. As democrats continue to foist the spectacle on the American People, as well as you, mr. Mueller, the American People may recall the media first began spreading this Conspiracy Theory in the spring of 2016. When the fusion gps, funded by the dnc and the elder Clinton Campaign, started developing the Steele Dossier. A collection of outlandish accusations that trump and his associates were russian agents. Effusion gps, steel, and other confederates and to top officials in numerous agencies, quitting the fbi, the apartment of justice, and the state department. Among other things, the fbi used dusty allegations to obtain a
warrant to spy on the Trump Campaign. Despite acknowledging dusty allegations as being salacious and unverified, former fbi director james comey briefed those allegations to President Obama and president elect trump. This briefings conveniently leaked to the press. Launching thousands of false Press Stories based on the word of a foreign exspy. One who admitted he was desperate that trump lose the election and who was eventually fired as an fbi source for leaking to the press. After combing himself was fired, by his own admission, he leaked derogatory information on President Trump to the press for the specific purpose and successfully so, as engineering the appointment of a Special Counsel who sits here before us today. The fbi investigation was marred by further corruption and bizarre abuses. Top doj official bruce ohr, whose own wife worked on fusion gpss antitrump operation, said sent steeles information to the fbi even after the fbi fired steele. The Top Investigator and has liver, another top fbi official, constantly texted about how much they hated trump and wanted to stop him from being elected. And the entire investigation was open based not on intelligence but on a tip from a foreign politician. About a conversation involving Joseph Mifsud. He is a maltese diplomat who is widely portrayed as a russian agent, but seems to have far more connections with western governments, including our own fbi and our own state department. Than with russia. Ignoring all these red flags as well as the transparent absurdity of the claims they are making, the democrats have argued for nearly three years that evidence of collusion is hidden just around the corner. Like the loch ness monster, they insist its there even if no one can find it. Consider this in march 2017, democrats on this Committee Said they had more than circumstantial evidence of collusion but they couldnt reveal it yet. Mr. Mueller was soon appointed, and they said he would find the collusion. When no collusion was found, and mr. Muellers indictments, they said they find it in the final report. Then when there was no collusion in the report, we were told Attorney General Barr was hiding it. Then when it was clear he wasnt hiding anything, we were told it would be revealed through a hearing with mr. Mueller himsel himself. And now that mr. Mueller is here, they are claiming that the collusion has actually been in his report all along. Hidden in plain sight. And they are right there is collusion in plain sight. Collusion between russia and the Democratic Party. The democrats colluded with russian sources to develop the Steele Dossier, and russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya colluded with a key architect. Fusion gps head glenn simpson. Democrats have already admitted both in interviews and through their usual anonymous statements to reporters that todays hearing is not about getting information at all. They said they want to bring the Mueller Report to life. And create a television moment, through ploys like having mr. Mueller recite passages from his own report. In other words, this hearing is political theater. Its an attempt to convince emergent people that collusion is real, and that its concealed in the report. Granted, thats a strange argument to make about a report that is public. Its almost like a democrats
prepared arguments accusing mr. Barr fighting the report, and didnt offer to update their claims once he published the entire thing. The Russian Investigation was never about finding the truth. It was a simple media operation. By their own accounts, this operation continues in this room today. Once again, numerous pressing issues this committee needs to address are put on hold to indulge the political fantasies of people who believed it was their destiny to serve Hillary Clintons administration. Its time for the curtain to close on the russia hoax. The Conspiracy Theory is dead. At some point i would argue we are going to have to get back to work. Until then, i yield back the balance of my time. To ensure fairness and make sure that our hearing is prompt i know we got a late start,Director Mueller the hearing will be structured as follows. Each member of the committee will be afforded 5 minutes to ask questions, beginning with the chair and ranking member. As chair i will recognize them after in alternating fashion and ascending seniority. Members of the majority and minority. After east felt like each member was asked her questions, they will be afforded an additional s followed by the chair, who will ask an additional five questions. 5 minutes for questions. Ranking member and the chair will not be permitted to delegate or yield our final round of questions to any other member. After six members of the majority and six members of the minority have concluded their fiveminute rounds of questions, we will take a five or ten minute break. We understand that you have requested that. Before resuming the hearing with Congressman Swallow starting his round of questions Special Counsel Mueller is accompanied today by aaron zebley, who served as Deputy Special Counsel from may 2017 until may 2019. And had daytoday oversight of
the Special Counsel investigation. Mr. Mueller, and mr. Zebley, resigned from the Department Of Justice at the end of may 2019 when the special Counsel Office was closed. Both mr. Mueller and mr. Zebley will be available to answer questions today and will be sworn in consistent with the rules of the house and the committee. Mr. Mueller and mr. Zebleys appearance today before the committee is in keeping with the committees longstanding practice of receiving testimony from current or former Department Of Justice and fbi personnel regarding open and closed investigative matters. As this hearing is under oath, and before you begin your testimony, mr. Mueller and zebley, would you please rise and raise your right hands to be sworn . Would you swear them and . Do you swear or affirm the testimony were about to give at this hearing is the whole truth and nothing but the truth . Thank you. The record will reflect that the
witnesses have been duly sworn. Ranking member . Thank you, the strattera. I just want to clarify that this is highly unusual for mr. Zebley to be sworn in. We are here to ask Director Mueller questions. He is here as counsel. Our side is not going to be directing any questions to mr. Zebley, and have concerns about his prior representation E Hillary Clinton campaign aide. So i just want to voice that concern that we do have. We will not be addressing any questions to mr. Zebley today. I think the ranking member, i realized as you probably do, mr. Zebley that there is an angry man down the street who is not happy about your being here today. But it is up to this committee and not anyone else who will be allowed to be sworn in and testify, and you are welcome as
a private citizen to testify, and members may direct their questions to whomever they choose. With that, Director Mueller, you are recognized for any opening remarks he would like to make. Good afternoon, chairman schiff. Ranking member newness, and members of the committee i testified this morning before the house judiciary committee, i ask that the Opening Statement i made before that committee be incorporating incorporated into the record here. Without objection, director. I understand this committee has a unique jurisdiction. And that you are interested in further understanding the Counterintelligence Implications of our investigation. Let me say a word about how we handled the potential impact of our investigation on counterintelligence matters. As we explained in the report, the Special Counsel regulations effectively gave me the role of United States attorney. As a result, we structured our investigation around evidence for possible use in prosecution of federal crimes. We did not reach what you would call counterintelligence conclusions. We did, however, set up processes in the office to identify and pass Counterintelligence Information on to the fbi. Members of our office periodically briefed the fbi about Counterintelligence Information. In addition, there were agents and analysts from the fbi who were not on our team but whose job it was to identify Counterintelligence Information in our files and to disseminate that information to the fbi. For these reasons, questions about whether the fbi has done, with the intelligence integration obtained by her investigation, should be directed to the fbi. I also want to reiterate a few points that i made this morning. I am not making any judgments or offering opinions about the guilt or innocence in any pending case. It is unusual for a prosecutor to testify about a criminal investigation, and given my role as a prosecutor, there are reasons why my testimony will necessarily be limited. First, public testimonies could affect several ongoing matters. In some of these matters, court rules or judicial orders, limit the disclosure of information to protect the fairness of the proceedings. Consistent with Longstanding Justice Department policy, it would be inappropriate for me to comment in any way that could affect an ongoing matter. Second, the Justice Department has asserted privileges concerning investigative information and citizens. Ongoing matters within the Justice Department, and deliberations within our office. These are Justice Department privileges that i will respect. The department has released a letter discussing the restrictions on my testimony. I therefore will not be able to answer questions about certain areas that i know are of public interest. For example, i am unable to address questions about the opening of the fbis russia investigation, which occurred months before my appointment. Or, matters related to the socalled Steele Dossier. These matters are the subject of ongoing review by the departmen department. Any questions on these topics should therefore be directed to the fbi or the Justice Department. Third, as i explained this morning, it is important for me to adhere to what we wrote in our report. The report contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We stated the results of our investigation with precision. I do not intend to summarize or describe the results of our work in a different way in the course of my testimony today. As i stated in may, i also will not comment on the actions of the Attorney General or of congress. I was appointed as a prosecutor and i intend to adhere to that rule into the Department Standards that govern. Finally, as i said this morning, over the course of my career i have seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian Governments efforts to interfere in our election is among the most serious. Im sure the committee agrees. Before we go to i want to add one correction to my testimony this morning. I want to go back to one thing that was said this morning by mr. Lou who said, and i quote, you didnt charge the president because of the olc opinion. That is not the correct way to
say it. As we say in the report, and as i said at the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime. With that, mr. Chairman, i might answer questions. Thank you, Director Mueller. I recognize myself for 5 minutes. Dr. Mueller, your report describes a Sweeping And Systematic effort by russia to influence our president ial election. Is that correct . That is correct. During the course of this russian interference in the election, the russians made outreach to the Trump Campaign. Did they not . That occurred over the course of yes, that occurred. Its also clear from your report that during that russian outreach to the Trump Campaign no one associated with the Trump Campaign ever called the fbi to report it. Am i right . I dont know that for sure. In fact, the Campaign Welcome to the russian help. Did they not . I think we report in the
report, indication that that occurred, yes. Bingo the president s son said when he was approached by Dirt On Ellery Clinton that the Term Campaign would love it . That is generally what was said, yes. The president himself called on the russians to hack hillarys emails. There was a statement by the president along those general lines. Numerous times during the campaign the president praised the releases of the russianhacked emails through wikileaks . That did occur. Your report found that the Term Campaign planned a press strategy, communication medica, and messaging based on that russian assistance . Im not familiar with that. That leg which comes from volume 1, page 54. Apart from the russians wanting to help trump wind, several of the individuals associated with Trump Campaign were also trying to make money during the Trump Campaign and transition. Is that correct . Thats true. Trying to that is accurate. Michael flynn was trying to make money from turkey . True. Donald trump was trying to make millions from a real estate deal in moscow . To the extent you are talking about the hotel in moscow . Yes. Yes. When your investigation look into these matters, numerous Trump Associates lied to her team. The grand jury , and to congress. In number of persons we interviewed, and in our investigation, it turns out did live. Mike flynn lied . He was convicted of lying, yes. George papadopoulos was convicted of lying . True. Paul manafort was convicted of lying . True. Paul manafort went so far as to encourage other people to lie . That is accurate. Deputy, rick gates, lied . Thats accurate. Michael cohen, the president s lawyer, was indicted for lying . True. He lied to stay on message
with the present . Allegedly, by end. And when donald trump called her investigation a witch hunt, that was also false, was it not . I would like to think so, yes. Your investigation is not a witch hunt . It is not a witch hunt. When he said the russian interference was a hoax, that was false, wasnt it . True. When he said it publicly, that it was false . He did say publicly that it was false, yes. And when he told it to putin, that was false too, wasnt it connect that, im not familiar with when the president said he had no Business Dealings with russia, that was false, wasnt it . Im not going to go into the details of the report along those lines. When the president said he has no Business Dealings with russia, in fact, he was seeking to build a trump tower in moscow, was he not . I think there was some question about when this was accomplished. Would you consider a billiondollar deal to build a
tower in moscow to be Business Dealings . Wouldnt you, Director Mueller . Absolutely. In short, your investigation found evidence that russia wanted to help trump win the election, right . I think generally that would be accurate. Russia informed Campaign Officials of that . Im not certain to watch the conversations you are referring to. Intermediaries informed papadopoulos he could help with the anonymous release of stolen emails . Accurate. Russia committed federal crimes in order to help donald trump . When you were talking about the Computer Crimes, absolutely. The Trump Campaign officials built their strategy, their messa