Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified Wednesday in two hearings about his findings (released in a 448-page redacted report in May) in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In his opening statements, Mueller touched on findings of his investigation and made a few remarks. “Our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” Mueller said. “The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities. We did not address ‘collusion,’ which is not a legal term. Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not.”
In hours of questioning Mueller neither exonerated nor implicated Trump for interference with the election. However, it was clear from his testimony that there were connections between Trump’s campaign in 2016 and the Russians who attacked the election.
Mueller was asked whether Russia would attempt to attack future US elections, as it did in 2016, to which he replied, “They’re doing it as we sit here.”
Mueller condemned President Donald Trump’s tweets of praise for WikiLeaks’ stolen emails during the 2016 campaign, at which he said calling them “problematic is an understatement.”