In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not answer a charge that he “perpetuated injustice” when conducting his investigation into the president, per Fox News .
Defending President Trump against claims he obstructed justice in Mueller’s investigation, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert took aim at Mueller, who is testifying before members of Congress about the findings of his report released in April.
“What he’s doing is not obstructing justice; he is pursuing justice and the fact you ran it out two years means you perpetuated injustice!” Gohmert said, per Fox News.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler then stepped in to let Gohmert know that he was out of time, though he gave Mueller an opportunity to respond to Gohmert’s accusation. Mueller declined to respond.
Gohmert took aim at Mueller for the length of his investigation into the president, which began in 2017 and lasted until April of this year. He also blasted Mueller’s hire of FBI agent Peter Strzok to work on the investigation. Text messages where Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page talked about disliking the president surfaced in 2017, per Fox News.
The messages in question, per The Washington Post , were sent in 2016 and contained discussion of an “insurance policy” to be used in the case that Trump won the 2016 election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The president has claimed he believes the investigation into Russia is this “insurance policy,” per The Washington Post.
7 key takeaways (so far) from Robert Mueller’s testimony https://t.co/uo4N4HbzTa pic.twitter.com/BtGwDVzWr6
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 24, 2019
Mueller responded and said he was unaware of the messages when he hired Strzok, and that he reassigned him as soon as he learned of their existence in the summer of 2017. Gohmert then claimed there was discussion into whether Mueller removed Strozk from the investigation quickly enough, though the Texas republican immediately moved on to further questioning.
Immediately following the exchange, the Texas conservative posted a video to his Twitter account.
. @realDonaldTrump knows he is innocent. He’s not corruptly acting in order to see that justice is done. What he’s doing is not obstructing justice — he’s pursuing justice; and, the fact that you ran it out for two years means you perpetuated injustice.” https://t.co/aSEC5ioAkC
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) July 24, 2019
Meanwhile, the president has taken to his Twitter page throughout the morning to defend himself against Mueller’s testimony, per a previous report from The Inquisitr . At around 8 a.m. the president took aim at Mueller, and said Mueller applied and interviewed to be the director of the FBI.
Trump later tweeted a quote from Fox News’ Chris Wallace that claimed this Mueller hearing was bad for Mueller’s reputation and the Democratic Party.
“This has been a disaster for the Democrats and a disaster for the reputation of Robert Mueller.” Chris Wallace @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2019
Many took to social media to react to the tense exchange between Gohmert and Mueller.
“Gohmert also asserted Trump knew he was innocent,” former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said on Twitter . “But his actions in many cases look like those of a man who believes he has committed crimes. Obstruction keeps prosecutors from getting to the truth of the matter. That’s why it’s a crime.”
Others tweeted with notes on Gohmert’s demeanor. They said he was yelling and looked “beet red” by the end of his testimony.
