Mueller criticizes Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks: ‘Problematic is an understatement’
Special Counsel Robert Mueller said at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s past statements praising WikiLeaks were worrisome.
“Problematic is an understatement, in terms of what it displays in terms of giving some — I don’t know, hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity,” Mueller said in response to a question from Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill. during his second hearing of the day.
Quigley had just shared public statements that Trump made in 2016 before he was elected, in which the future president said “I love WikiLeaks,” “WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove,” “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks” and more.
WikiLeaks released hacked emails from Democrats in advance of the 2016 election. Quigley said during the hearing that former CIA Director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “assessed WikiLeaks at one point as a hostile intelligence service.”
Mueller also told Quigley that Donald Trump Jr.’s communications with WikiLeaks, which were documented in the report, were “disturbing” and should be “subject to an investigation.”
Mueller said at a May press conference in Washington that the report his office released following the probe into Russian 2016 election meddling was tantamount to his testimony. His lengthy report found no evidence the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to influence the election, but did list 10 possible instances of obstruction of justice by the president during the probe. Mueller also announced his office was closing up shop at the news conference.
But the Democrats who lead the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in U.S. House of Representatives decided to subpoena Mueller to testify, announcing on June 25 that the former FBI head would appear before lawmakers in open session July 17. The date was later changed to July 24.
“We look forward to hearing his testimony, as do all Americans,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in a June statement.
Nadler and Schiff acknowledged Mueller’s preference to let his “written work to speak for itself” in their June letter accompanying the subpoena, but the pair wrote that “the American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions.”
Mueller’s May press conference sparked some Democrats to call for Trump’s impeachment, with some pointing to Mueller’s comment that “if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime.”
Those impeachment calls included a handful of Democratic presidential candidates.
“I believe a fair inference from what he heard from Bob Mueller is there would have been indictments returned against this president,” if not for the Justice Department guidance saying a president can’t be charged, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told reporters during a stop in South Carolina, McClatchy reported. On Twitter, Harris called Mueller’s news conference statements “an impeachment referral.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 2:24 PM.
