Mueller declines to weigh in on impeachment
WASHINGTON – Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III declined to say whether his 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election makes a determination as to whether President Donald Trump should be impeached.
“I’m not going to talk about that issue,” Mueller said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday in response to a question from Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Nevertheless, Johnson persisted.
“Your report does not recommend impeachment. Does it?”
Mueller again refused to answer the question.
Johnson tried once more.
“It does not conclude that impeachment would be appropriate here, right?”
Mueller declined to answer the question.
Johnson asked Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on a point of inquiry if the hearing was arranged, as some Republicans and political pundits have suggested, to get Mueller to recommend impeachment.
Nadler ruled Johnson’s inquiry out of order and refused to answer the question.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-N.Y.) has eschewed talk of impeachment.
Mueller said in his report that he did not find evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials. Mueller did not make a determination as to whether Trump obstructed justice.
Mueller is scheduled to testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence later in the afternoon.
This article is republished with permission from TMN
Bryan is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government.
His work includes coverage of the election of Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions-as well as that of the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.