Bonus: "The Report Is My Testimony"

The Investigation

ABC News

News, Politics

3.6 • 739 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2019

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After submitting a 448 page report that summarized the findings from a 674 days long investigation, Special Counsel Robert Mueller finally breaks his silence, reading a prepared statement from the press room in the Justice building. After announcing his resignation to private life, Mueller stated the Special Counsel did not "make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime," explaining the reasoning behind that decision was due to the "long-standing department policy: a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office." Added the veteran prosecutor, "charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider." He added that he and his team of investigators were "guided by principles of fairness" and that "any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report…the report is my testimony." Now, the members of "The Investigation" led by Chris Vlasto break down the Mueller press conference with former Governor of New Jersey and former U.S. Attorney now ABC News contributor Chris Christie. "I think what [Mueller] was doing was being what Bob Mueller is: which is a boy scout," the former Governor tells "The Investigation." As for whether Democrats will pursue impeachment proceedings, Christie says "I would say game on. Bring it on if you want to do it, that's your constitutional right to do."

Follow Kyra on Twitter @kyraphillips

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Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmosk

Follow John on Twitter @santucci

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to The Investigation.
0:08.4	I'm Chris Vlasto, senior executive producer here at ABC News, and I'm joined by my colleagues,
0:13.7	Matt Mosque and John Santucci, who are the lead reporters on the Trump investigation.
0:19.2	Obviously a big breaking news day. We had Robert Mueller speak for the first time about Trump investigation. Obviously a big breaking news day.
0:25.7	We had Robert Mueller speak for the first time about his investigation into the president.
0:28.4	Quite a day in Washington, full of surprises.
0:33.1	Robert Mueller is a good secret keeper, and no one seemed to know this press conference was coming.
0:34.1	And he made some news.
0:36.1	We conducted that investigation, and we kept the office of the acting Attorney General
0:40.3	apprised of the progress of our work.
0:44.3	And as set forth in the report after that investigation,
0:48.3	if we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.
0:55.8	We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime.
1:01.0	The introduction to the volume 2 of our report explains that decision.
1:07.9	It explains that under long-standing Department policy, a president cannot be charged with a federal
1:14.6	crime while he is in office.
1:17.4	That is unconstitutional.
1:19.8	Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited.
1:25.3	The special counsel's office is part of the Department of Justice, and by
1:30.4	regulation, it was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime was
1:37.4	therefore not an option we could consider. And now joining us by phone, former New Jersey
1:43.8	Governor Chris Christie. So, Governor,
	...

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