Members-Only Article
3:36 p.m.
Tierney Sneed: In his closing remarks Schiff did something that had been lacking so far for Democrats in this long day of Mueller testimony: He used Mueller’s refusal to answer certain questions to make the case that it now falls to the House to investigate those very questions. All day House Republicans have sought to argue that there’s nothing to see here and we need to move on — and Mueller helped them by hewing so closely to the report and even refusing to read from it. But Schiff found a silver lining in how ambiguous many of Mueller’s answers were and ended his hearing with a forward-looking call-to-arms for Congress to pick up where Mueller left off.
3:26 p.m.
Matt Shuham: Schiff, without pressing Mueller too hard, gets the quote Democrats want: “We should hold our elected officials to a standard higher than mere avoidance of criminality, shouldn’t we?” “Absolutely,” the former special counsel responds.
3:22 p.m.
Caitlin MacNeal: Mueller appeared to say that President Trump was not always truthful when answering written questions from the special counsels office. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) asked Mueller if it was fair to say that Trump’s answers were “inadequate and incomplete” because he did not answer every question and that when he did offer a response, “his answers showed he wasn’t always being truthful.” Mueller responded, “I would say, generally.”