Read Robert Mueller’s opening statement: Russian interference among ‘most serious’ challenges to American democracy
Published Wed, Jul 24 20199:07 AM EDTUpdated Wed, Jul 24 20193:41 PM EDT
Dan Mangan @_DanMangan
* Special counsel Robert Mueller began his testimony before a House panel with an opening statement that called Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election that sent President Donald Trump to the White House among the “most serious” challenges to American democracy.
* Mueller was testifying Wednesday for hours on Capitol Hill about his investigation into Russian interference, possible coordination by members of Trump’s campaign and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.
* “Over the course of my career, I’ve seen a number of challenges to our democracy. The Russian government’s effort to interfere in our election is among the most serious,” Mueller said.
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First, we needed to do our work as thoroughly as possible and as expeditiously as possible. It was in the public interest for our investigation to be complete, but not to last a day longer than necessary.
Second, the investigation needed to be conducted fairly and with absolute integrity. Our team would not leak or take other actions that could compromise the integrity of our work. All decisions were made based on the facts and the law.
During the course of our investigation, we charged more than 30 defendants with committing federal crimes, including 12 officers of the Russian military. Seven defendants have been convicted or pled guilty.
Certain of the charges we brought remain pending today. For those matters, I stress that the indictments contain allegations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
In addition to the criminal charges we brought, as required by Justice Department regulations, we submitted a confidential report to the Attorney General at the conclusion of the investigation. The report set forth the results of our work and the reasons for our charging and declination decisions. The Attorney General later made the report largely public.
As you know, I made a few limited remarks about our report when we closed the Special Counsel’s Office in May of this year. There are certain points that bear emphasis.
First, our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion.
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