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Mueller report shows evidence Trump committed crimes, House Judiciary chairman says

22 July 2019 04:20 (UTC +04:00)

The top Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said Sunday he believes there is “substantial evidence” that President Donald Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and he plans to ask former Special Counsel Robert Mueller to present those facts at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Reuters.

“The report presents very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crime and misdemeanors, and we have to let Mueller present those facts to the American people and then see where we go from there,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“The administration must be held accountable, and no president can be above the law.”

Nadler’s comments are significant because evidence of such crimes would be required if Democrats pursue impeachment proceedings against the president.

Mueller completed his nearly two-year long probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election in March, and the Justice Department released a redacted copy of his report in April.

In two nationally televised back-to-back hearings on Wednesday before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, Democrats are expected to try and get Mueller to focus his testimony on specific examples of Trump’s misconduct.

By having Mueller lay bare the unflattering details of how Trump tried to stymie the investigation into his campaign, Democrats hope they can build support for their ongoing investigations into the president and potentially, impeachment proceedings.

Some Democrats in Congress support impeaching Trump, but they have not managed to win traction from House Democratic leadership including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has preferred a more cautious approach that entails conducting congressional fact-finding investigations into Trump’s conduct.

Last week, the House voted 332-95 to table an impeachment resolution.

The Mueller report laid out numerous contacts between Russian officials and Trump’s campaign, but found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy.