Updated at 3:30 p.m. on July 24, 2019
With all eyes on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, former special Counsel Robert Mueller began his much-anticipated testimony by largely repeating what he outlined in April in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election — but stating very clearly that in the investigation, “the president was not exculpated for the acts that he allegedly committed.”
Mueller’s testimony comes amid growing pressure from some Democrats to impeach the president, which have been reinvigorated by the support of 2020 presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
While testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller said that the "Russian government interfered in our election in a sweeping and systematic fashion.” He later said that effort was one of the “most serious” threats to American democracy.
The former special counsel further emphasized what he had said in his report: that he was unable to confirm that the president had not obstructed justice, but that there was not enough evidence to charge the president, either.
“[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities. We did not address 'collusion,' which is not a legal term,” said Mueller.
“Rather, we focused on whether the evidence was sufficient to charge any member of the campaign with taking part in a criminal conspiracy. It was not.”
When asked by Rep. Jerry Nadler, Mueller added that the president could potentially be indicted once he left office.
Mueller said that it was true that he tried to pursue an interview with the president for over a year, but that the commander-in-chief had refused.
The first hearing appeared to focus largely on the nature of the investigation, and not the actions of the president.
Throughout Mueller’s testimony, lawmakers’ questions were frequently delayed by the former special counsel’s requests for questions to be repeated. He often deferred to the text of the report.
Mueller faced aggressive questioning from Republican representatives who argued that Mueller’s emphasis on not exonerating the president violated the presumption of innocence and interrogation over his relationship with former FBI head James Comey.
The second hearing at the House Intelligence Committee largely rehashed the topics discussed in the first, including Mueller's relationship with the president, his finding that a sitting president could not be indicted, the difference between collusion and conspiracy, the meaning of the term "exonerate," and the threat of foreign adversaries in American elections.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
