Nothing in his quiver of answers for members of Congress during long-anticipated testimony Wednesday contained much information.
When he wrapped up the Russia investigation with a public statement back in May, the former FBI Director and special counsel said that written document was his testimony.
Now, called before Congress as a private citizen, his actual spoken testimony consisted largely of throwing back to it and doing everything he possibly could to not get caught up in the political fight.
Mueller didn’t do much to help Americans who haven’t bothered to read the document , which lays out scores of interactions between the Trump campaign and Russians, and dissects ten possible instances of obstruction of justice by Trump, and documents 77 lies and falsehoods but didn’t recommend any specific conspiracy or obstruction charges.
Where previous special counsels like Whitewater’s Kenneth Starr recommended impeachment, Mueller remained frustratingly opaque in a way that on Wednesday came off as obtuse at times.
Mueller refused to explain what’s in the space between “not exonerated” and not indicted, although he did make clear the option of indicting Trump was never open to him, according to Department of Justice guidelines. He later clarified that the question that made this point, and which he agreed to, wasn’t exactly the right way to put it.
It was on one hand refreshing to see a congressional witness answer simply and maddening because both Democrats and Republicans actually wanted answers from him.
Source: Analysis: Mueller’s say nothing strategy confounds everyone
