Robert mueller. Mr. Mueller good morning, everyone, and thank you for being here. Two years ago, the acting attorney general asked me to serve as special counsel. And he created the special counsels office. The appointment order directed the office to investigate russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. This included investigating any links or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated with the trump campaign. I have not spoken publicly during our investigation. Im speaking out today because our investigation is complete. The attorney general has made the report largely public. We are formally closing the special counsels office and as well, im resigning from the department of justice to return to private life. I will make a few remarks about the results of our work. But beyond these few remarks, it is important that the offices written work speaks for itself. Let me begin where the appointment order begins. And that is interference in the 2016 president ial election. As alleged by the grand jury in an indictment, russian intelligence officers, who were part of the russian military, launched a concerted attack on our political system. The indictment alleges they used sophisticated cyber techniques to hack into computers and networks used by the clinton campaign. They stole private information and then released that information through fake Online Identities and through the organization wikileaks. The releases were designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a president ial candidate. And at the same time as the grand jury alleged in a separate indictment, a private russian entity engaged in a social media operation where russian citizens posed as americans in order to influence an election. These indictments contain allegations, and we are not commenting on the guilt or the innocence of any specific defendant. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The indictments alleged and the other activities in our report describe, efforts to interfere in our political system. They needed to be investigated and understood. And thats among the reasons why the department of justice established our office. That is also a reason we investigated efforts to obstruct the investigation. The matters we investigated were of paramount importance. It was critical for us to obtain full and Accurate Information from every person we questioned. When a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the governments efforts to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable. Let me say a word about the report. The report has two parts addressing the two main issues we were asked to investigate. The first volume of the report details numerous efforts emanating from russia to influence the election. This volume includes a discussion of the trump campaigns response to this activity, as well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. And in a second volume, the report describes the results and analysis of our obstruction of justice investigation involving the president. The order appointing me special counsel authorized us to investigate actions that could obstruct the investigation. We conducted that investigation , and we cap the office of the acting attorney general apprised of the progress of our work. And as set forth in the report, after that investigation, if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. The introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. It explains that under Longstanding Department policy, a present president cannot be charged with a federal crime while hes in office. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited. The special counsels office is part of the department of justice. And by regulation, it was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. The departments written opinion explaining the policy makes several important points that further informed our handling of the obstruction investigation. Those points are summarized in our report. And i will describe two of them for you. First, the opinion explicitly permits the investigation of a sitting president because it is important to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available. Among other things, that evidence could be used if they does if there were if there were coconspirators who could be charged now. And second, the opinions says that the constitution requires a process other than the criminal Justice System to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing. And beyond department policy, it was guided by principles of fairness. It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no Court Resolution of the actual charge. So that was Justice Department policy. Those were the principles under which we operated. And from them, we concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime. That is the offices final position. We will not comment on any other conclusions or hypotheticals about the president. We conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the attorney general, as required by department regulations. The attorney general then concluded it was appropriate to provide our report to congress and to the american people. At one point in time, i requested that certain portions of the report be released. The attorney general preferred to make the entire report public all at once. And we appreciate that the attorney general made the report largely public. I certainly do not question the attorney generals good faith in that decision. Now i hope and expect this to be the only time i will speak to you in this manner. Im making that decision myself. No one has told me whether i can or should testify or speak further about this matter. Theres been discussion about an appearance before congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself. And the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which has already that which is already public in an appearance before congress. In addition, access to our underlying product is being decided in a process that does not involve our office. So beyond what i have said here today than what is contained in our written work, i do not believe it is appropriate for me to speak further about the investigation or to comment on the actions of the Justice Department before congress. And it is for that reason that i will not be taking questions today as well. Now before i step away, i want to thank the attorneys, the fbi agents, the analysts, the professional staff who helped us conduct this investigation in a fair and independent manner. These individuals who spent nearly two years with the special counsels office were of the highest integrity. And i will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments, that there were multiple systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every american. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Sir, if you are subpoenaed to appear before congress mr. Mueller no questions. [cameras shuttering] announcer there is a look at wednesdays programming. At a 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan, former special Counsel Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about the russia counsels investigation into whether President Trump obstruct the probe into russian interference in the 2016 campaign. Will show you as much about hearing as possible, until the house gavels in for general speeches at 10 00 a. M. At noon, the house is expected to consider several bills including one authorizing state Department Programs for fiscal year 2020, 10 and other making text changes for married thing couples. The Senate Returns to work on judicial nominations. You can watch that on these been to. On cspan3, we have live coverage of farmers Russia Council Robert Muellers testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in its entirety. The former special counsel will testify before the House Intelligence Committee area announcer cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up wednesday morning, we are previewing special Counsel Robert Muellers upcoming testimony before the house judiciary and intelligence committees on his report on russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. Join the conversation all morning with your phone calls, Facebook Comments and tweets,. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern wednesday morning. Announcer President Trump told a student conference that the Mueller Report is to keep it harder for him to deal with russia. His comments came on the eve of former special Counsel Robert Muellers testimony on capitol hill. Turning point usa host of the event. Hosted the event. [applause]
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