The post Rep. Jim Jordan’s full questioning of Robert Mueller | Mueller testimony first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

At one point, he even said he wasn’t familiar with Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm behind the controversial anti-Trump dossier.

The longtime lawman was known to be reluctant to testify, having made clear he would largely stick to the boundaries of his original report. He reiterated Wednesday that his testimony before House committees would be based on the text of his report on Russian election interference and potential obstruction of the investigation.

But that didn’t stop a barrage of detail-rich questions that seemed to throw off the usually stone-faced investigator.

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., focused his questions on the former Special Counsel’s findings that the investigation did not establish any conspiracy between President Trump and Russia. Collins asked Mueller if “conspiracy” and “collusion” were colloquially the same thing, and Mueller said no. Collins then quoted Mueller’s own report, which indicated otherwise.

EX-SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER TESTIFIES TO CONGRESS — LIVE BLOG

“As defined in legal dictionaries, collusion is largely synonymous with conspiracy as that crime is set forth in the general federal conspiracy statute,” Collins read from the report. “Now, you said you chose your words carefully. Are you contradicting your report right now?”

“Not when I read it,” Mueller replied, prompting Collins to ask, “So you would change your answer to yes?”

“No, no, the uh, if you look at the language,” Mueller said before trailing off.

Collins pressed further, saying, “I’m reading your report, sir. It’s a yes or no answer.”

Mueller asked for the page number of the report, then stammered before saying he would “leave it with the report.” When Collins stated that the report says that the terms “collusion” and “conspiracy” are synonymous, Mueller said, “Yes.”

Mueller appeared flustered by Collins’ questioning, although the congressman admitted he has a tendency to speak quickly. Collins said he would try to speak slowly but still maintained a rapid pace during his five-minute grilling.

MUELLER REFUSES TO DISCUSS RUSSIA PROBE ORIGINS, STEELE DOSSIER IN TESTIMONY

Nevertheless, Mueller appeared off his game even after the fast-talking Collins was done.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., went next, speaking at a more deliberate pace. After her first question about the extent to which Russia interfered in the 2016 election, Mueller responded, “Could you repeat that, Ma’am?”

At another point, he asked GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner what he was reading from.

“I’m reading from my question,” the Wisconsin lawmaker shot back before Mueller again asked him to repeat his question.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mueller-flustered-asking-lawmakers-to-repeat-questions-at-hearing

The post Mueller flustered, asking lawmakers to repeat questions at tense hearing first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Republicans, for years, have attempted to draw a stark distinction between how the FBI and Mueller pursued allegations against President Trump and his campaign during the 2016 presidential election and how they reviewed alleged misconduct by prominent Democratic figures and those associated with them.

MUELLER SAYS HE IS ‘NOT FAMILIAR’ WITH FUSION GPS, THE FIRM BEHIND STEELE DOSSIER

On Wednesday, during the first round of Mueller’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, GOP lawmakers repeatedly confronted the former special counsel with that accusation — with lines of questioning meant to illustrate a double standard.

At one point, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked if he can say whether the controversial anti-Trump dossier “was not part of Russia’s disinformation campaign.”

“No – as I said in my opening statement, I-uh, I, that part of the … building of the case predated me by at least 10 months,” Mueller replied.

Gaetz noted such reasoning did not stop prosecutors from going after Trump’s former campaign chairman. “Paul Manafort’s alleged crimes regarding tax evasion predated you but you didn’t have a problem charging him,” he said.

Gaetz and Mueller went back-and-forth over the anti-Trump dossier, which was authored and compiled by ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The dossier was created on behalf of Fusion GPS—the firm that was hired to conduct opposition research funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign through law firm Perkins Coie. The dossier “formed an essential part” of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants approved to surveil then-Trump campaign associate Carter Page, according to a House GOP memo alleging government surveillance abuse during 2016.

Gaetz complained Wednesday that concerns about Fusion and Steele were largely not in the report, and figures associated with them were not charged.

“When people associated with Trump lie, you throw the book at them. When Christopher Steele [lies], nothing,” he said.

Mueller on Wednesday claimed he was “not familiar” with Fusion GPS, despite Steele’s reporting being referenced in his report. He also continued to state that the Steele matter is “beyond my purview.”

Gaetz fired back: “No — that’s directly in your purview Mr. Mueller and here’s why. Either Steele made this whole thing up and there were never any Russians telling him of this vast criminal conspiracy that you didn’t find, or, Russians lied to Steele.”

MUELLER REFUSED TO DISCUSS RUSSIA PROBE ORIGINS, STEELE DOSSIER IN TESTIMONY

“Now if Russians were lying to Steele to undermine our confidence in our newly elected president, that would be precisely in your purview because you stated in your opening that the organizing principle was to fully and thoroughly investigate Russian interference. But you weren’t interested in whether the Russians interfered through Steele—and if Steele was lying, then you should have charged him with lying like you charged a variety of other people,” Gaetz continued.

The bulk of charges against Trump associates in Mueller’s investigation were based on false statements made either during the probe or to Congress. Six Trump campaign associates indicted in Mueller’s sprawling investigation were all charged with violating U.S.C. 1001—or making false statements.

They include former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates; former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen; former Trump adviser Roger Stone; former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn; and former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, directly questioned Mueller on his decisions to charge those “around the president” with false statements, and not several other key figures who played a central role in launching the investigation as a whole.

Jordan referenced Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud, who in 2016 told Papadopoulos that the Russians had dirt in the form of emails that could damage Clinton’s presidential campaign. Papadopoulos then told Australian diplomat Alexander Downer of the new information. Downer reported Papadopoulos’ comments to him to the FBI and effectively launched the bureau’s original investigation into the Trump campaign and coordination with the Russian government, according to reports.

DIPLOMAT WHO HELPED LAUNCH RUSSIA PROBE SPEAKS OUT, DEFENDS ROLE

“Three times Mifsud lied to the FBI and you didn’t charge him with a crime. He lied three times—you pointed it out in the report—why didn’t you charge him with a crime?” Jordan asked.

Mueller replied: “I can’t get into internal deliberations with regard to who would or would not be–.”

“You charged a lot of other people with making false statements. Let’s remember this, in 2016, the FBI did something they probably haven’t done before. They spied on two American citizens associated with a presidential campaign—George Papadopoulos and Carter Page,” Jordan said. “With Page, they went to the FISA court and used the now-famous dossier to get a warrant. With Papadopoulos, they didn’t go to court—they used human sources—from the moment Papadopoulos joined the Trump campaign, you got people all around the world starting to swirl around him.”

Jordan went on to list Downer and Mifsud, among others.

“Mifsud is the guy who told Papadopoulos [about Russian dirt], he was the guy who started it all, yet when the FBI interviews him, he lies three times. You don’t charge him,” Jordan said. “The guy who starts the country through this saga—for three years we’ve been going through this now—he lies, you guys don’t charge him, and I’m curious to why.”

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