Robert Mueller Robert Mueller, former special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 24, 2019.

Robert Mueller deflected. He demurred. Whenever possible, he kept his answers monosyllabic—”yes” or “no.”

For much of Wednesday morning, Mueller was a reticent, and reluctant, witness. For hours, Democrats and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tried to prod the former special counsel to say something, anything, beyond the exhaustive 448-page report his office prepared summarizing the two-year Russia investigation. Again and again, Mueller referred them to the report.

“I'm not going beyond that.” “I would dispute your characterization.” “I can't go into discussion about our investigative moves.” Mueller would use variations over and over. He had cautioned in his opening statement that his testimony would be “limited.”

But at the three-hour mark, Mueller had something to say. The moment came when U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, a North Dakota Republican, questioned the impartiality of Mueller's team, long a leading talking point for Republicans and other critics of Mueller and the nearly 20 lawyers who served on the special counsel's team.

“Can I speak for a second to the hiring practices?” Mueller asked.

“Sure,” Armstrong said.

“We strove to hire those individuals that could do the job,” Mueller said, in his most animated remarks of the hearing.

“I have been in this business for almost 25 years. And in those 25 years, I have not had occasion, once, to ask somebody about their political affiliation. It is not done,” Mueller said. “What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity.”

Armstrong had noted that a top prosecutor on Mueller's team, Andrew Weissmann, had attended Clinton's 2016 election-night party. Another lead prosecutor, Jeannie Rhee, represented Clinton in litigation related to her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, Armstrong said. And the top aide seated next to Mueller at Wednesday's hearing, Aaron Zebley, had represented a top Clinton aide who helped set up the private server.

Armstrong and other Republicans claim those ties should undercut the public's confidence in the special counsel's office. “This isn't just about you being able to vouch for your team. This is about knowing that the day you accepted this role, you had to be aware no matter what this report concluded, half of the country was going to be skeptical of your team's findings,” Armstrong said.

In response, Mueller, himself a Republican who had served in various Republican administrations as a Justice Department leader and as FBI director, said he wanted to put another fact “on the table.” Of the 19 lawyers in the special counsel's office, 14 had been transferred in from other parts of the U.S. Justice Department. “Only five came from outside,” he said.

Among those who joined Mueller's team from within DOJ was Weissmann, who'd previously been the chief of the fraud section within the Justice Department's criminal division. At the hearing, Mueller described Weissmann as “one of the more talented attorneys we've had.”

Wilmer Hale Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr's D.C. offices. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ NLJ

Rhee and Zebley had both been partners with Mueller at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington. Rhee has since joined the Washington office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Zebley has not announced his plans.

Weissmann, a former Jenner & Block partner and FBI general counsel, is now teaching at New York University School of Law.

Armstrong, during his five minutes of questioning, raised an email Weissmann sent in January 2017 to then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates praising her refusal to enforce the Trump administration's travel ban. “I am so proud. And in awe,” Weissmann wrote. “Thank you so much.”

Armstrong asked Mueller whether Weissmann had disclosed the email before joining the special counsel team.

“I'm not going to talk about that,” Mueller said.

 

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