At the start of his highly-anticipated Congressional hearing, Robert Mueller warned lawmakers he wouldn’t answer questions related to the origins of the FBI’s investigation into President Trump’s relationship with Russia.
Turns out, that just scratched the surface of topics Mueller wouldn’t touch.
Over the course of his six-hour testimony, Mueller refused to answer lawmakers’ questions almost, if not more, often than he agreed to answer them.
Here are just a few of the topics Mueller refused to provide clarity on:
— Fusion GPS, the firm that created the dossier largely responsible for initiating the FBI’s Trump/Russia probe
— The FBI’s interactions with CNN before the pre-dawn raid on Roger Stone
— Whether he spoke with Christopher Steele, the author of the so-called Trump Dossier
— Whether his team was involved in the renewal of the FISA warrant to surveil Trump associates
— Who wrote the remarks he read at the May 29th press conference
— His communications with Donald Trump Jr.
— Attorney General Barr’s outline of his report
— Why he claimed Russia was running the Internet troll farm he indicted
— His communications with the Department of Justice
— Whether he wanted to interview Donald Trump Jr.
— Whether there was sufficient evidence of Trump obstructing justice to constitute a crime
— His previous case against Arthur Andersen
— Why he didn’t interview Svetlana Lokhova, whom intel sources falsely accused of having an affair with General Mike Flynn
— Whether his team traveled to foreign countries as part of his investigation
— Whether he instructed his staff to look into the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe
— The Clinton campaign’s role in manufacturing the dossier
— How many times he met with President Trump
During the halfway point, former Senator Claire McCaskill appeared on MSNBC and said she counted “more than 100 times” Mueller refused to answer questions, calling him a “bad witness” for Democrats.
NBC News ran the numbers and reports Mueller refused to answer 198 questions over the course of his testimony.
For a sample of his various styles of deflection, please enjoy the montage above.