HOW MANY TIMES DID MUELLER LIE?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was brought before House and Senate Committees on Wednesday to be quizzed about the investigation into Trump-Russia collusion. His report, which was released several months ago, concluded there was no collusion by President Trump with the Russians. As to whether Trump tried to obstruct justice, Mueller’s report stated the Special Counsel did not want to answer that; he left that decision up to Attorney General William Barr–who determined President Trump did not obstruct the investigation.

After just a few minutes into the hearing, Mr. Mueller proved he had no idea what was inside the final report and no command whatsoever over what happened in his investigation.

At one point, he emphatically denied he had asked President Trump to nominate him as FBI Director, a job he had previously held for 11 years–which is one year beyond what is allowed by law. The President has always said Mueller did ask him, but was turned down. Here’s the President’s response to Mueller’s statement:

• He hemmed and hawed and refused to answer questions, was confused about what was in his report, the history of his previous statements, and frequently resorted to stating, “That was beyond our purview.”

• He stated he had no instruction to conclusively determine Trump’s innocence or to exonerate him, seeming to contradict the foundation of our legal system, which is the presumption of innocence.

• He didn’t follow the instructions to provide the Attorney General with a confidential report describing his decision to either prosecute President Trump or to decline prosecution. Instead, he wrote 180 pages about potential crimes and decisions that weren’t reached–a violation of Department of Justice principles.

• Mueller said the impact of Russian meddling in the election was outside the purview of the Special Counsel, yet meddling was the reason this investigation began in the first place.

• On page 180 of his report, Mueller stated that collusion and conspiracy are synonymous; on Wednesday he told lawmakers they are not the same thing.

• Mueller blamed his decision not to indict President Trump on advice from the Office of Legal Counsel. However, AG Barr said under oath that Mueller told him multiple times that the OLC wasn’t the reason he didn’t indict for obstruction—and Barr has the notes and witnesses from that conversation. After lunch, Mueller reversed himself, stating, “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.”

• Mueller said he is not familiar with Fusion GPS, the firm that coordinated the dossier that was used to get warrants to spy on the Trump campaign. That would be simply impossible if he had been in charge of, or paying attention to, his investigation.