Nadler says Mueller showed Trump ‘lies,’ vows Congress will act

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) vowed that Congress will take action after special counsel Robert Mueller, in a dramatic appearance at the Justice Department, explained why his team did not bring charges against President Trump.

Nadler said Wednesday that Mueller’s public remarks place the ball in Congress’s court to respond to Trump’s “lies and other wrongdoing.”

{mosads}Nadler did not mention impeachment in his statement, but said it was up to Congress to take action after Mueller’s explanation.

“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump – and we will do so,” Nadler said in a statement.

In his first public remarks since concluding the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Mueller said that charging Trump with a crime on obstruction of justice “was not an option we could consider.”

The special counsel pointed to a Department of Justice guidance saying that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime.

“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said.

Nadler said Wednesday that Mueller has “clearly demonstrated that President Trump is lying about the Special Counsel’s findings.”

“Although Department of Justice policy prevented the Special Counsel from bringing criminal charges against the President, the Special Counsel has clearly demonstrated that President Trump is lying about the Special Counsel’s findings, lying about the testimony of key witnesses in the Special Counsel’s report, and is lying in saying that the Special Counsel found no obstruction and no collusion,” he said.

Despite ardent efforts by Democratic leaders to steer the caucus away from opening impeachment proceedings against Trump, Mueller’s announcement sparked a new series of calls by Democrats for the House to move in that direction.

The chairman has in recent days joined other House Democrats in pushing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to begin an impeachment inquiry and contempt vote. Talk of impeachment has heated up in recent weeks, especially following Rep. Justin Amash’s (R-Mich.) calls to impeach Trump, becoming the first Republican to make such comments.

The chorus of Democrats calling for impeachment grew louder after former White House counsel Don McGahn skipped out on a testimony at the White House’s instruction.

Mueller also said Wednesday that he will not testify before Congress, a blow to Nadler’s committee, which has been pushing for Mueller to testify publicly about his findings. 

“I hope and expect that this will be the only time that I will speak to you in this manner,” Mueller said Wednesday. “I am making that decision myself — no one has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill continued to emphasize that Mueller did not find evidence that members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russia. They also claimed that Mueller did not find evidence of obstruction of justice, despite Mueller saying that if his team had confidence Trump clearly didn’t commit a crime, they would have said that.

“Special Counsel Mueller confirmed today what we knew months ago when his report was released: there was no collusion and no obstruction,” Rep. Doug Collins (Ga.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “Re-litigating the 2016 election and reinvestigating the special counsel’s findings will only further divide our country.”