On Wednesday, former special counsel Robert Mueller faces lawmakers at two separate hearings. We are fact checking the whole event, starting with President Donald Trump’s attempts to set the agenda with a series of early-morning Mueller-related tweets.
Before the hearing began, Trump tweeted eight times about Mueller and the investigation. He made false and misleading claims. Here’s a rundown:
Aaron Zebley
“So Robert Mueller has now asked for his long time Never Trumper lawyer to sit beside him and help with answers,” Trump tweeted. “What’s this all about? His lawyer represented the ‘basement server guy’ who got off free in the Crooked Hillary case. This should NOT be allowed.”
“It was NEVER agreed that Robert Mueller could use one of his many Democrat Never Trumper lawyers to sit next to him and help him with his answers.”
Facts First: There is no public evidence that lawyer and former FBI agent Aaron Zebley is either a Democrat or a “Never Trumper,” a term generally used to describe Republicans who are steadfastly opposed to Trump. Zebley has not donated to either party, according to the Washington Post, and is not registered with either party. We could not find any public statements from him about Trump.
Zebley served as Mueller’s chief of staff during his final years as FBI Director. After Mueller left the FBI and joined the WilmerHale law firm in 2014, Zebley followed him there. Zebley did represent Justin Cooper, who helped Hillary Clinton set up her controversial private email server.
Obstruction of justice
Trump tweeted: “So Democrats and others can illegally fabricate a crime, try pinning it on a very innocent President, and when he fights back against this illegal and treasonous attack on our Country, they call It Obstruction? Wrong!”
Facts First: There is no evidence that the Mueller investigation was “illegal,” nor that any crime was fabricated.
Mueller’s report detailed evidence that Trump may have committed obstruction of justice in multiple instances. Mueller said he could not charge a sitting president with a crime on account of a longstanding Department of Justice policy, but it was not solely “Democrats” who said obstruction may have occurred.
Mueller confirmed at Wednesday’s hearing that the report did not exonerate Trump on the issue of obstruction of justice.
The investigators
Trump tweeted: “Why didn’t Robert Mueller & his band of 18 Angry Democrats spend any time investigating Crooked Hillary Clinton, Lyin’ & Leakin’ James Comey, Lisa Page and her Psycho lover, Peter S, Andy McCabe, the beautiful Ohr family, Fusion GPS, and many more, including HIMSELF & Andrew W?”
Facts First: Mueller himself is a longtime Republican. The majority of the lawyers on Mueller’s team had registered as Democrats, but not all of them.
The Washington Post found in 2018 that 13 of the 17 lawyers then on the special counsel’s team had registered as Democrats; the Post said the other four had no affiliation or their affiliation could not be found.
The hearing
In his opening statement, Republican Georgia Rep. Doug Collins made an incorrect claim regarding former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and the events surrounding it.
Collins stated that Mueller’s report concluded President Donald Trump’s “family and advisors did not” seek “Russian assistance to win the presidency.”
Facts First: This is incorrect. Members of the Trump family and Trump’s campaign chairman welcomed Russian assistance to get damning information on the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
As outlined in the report, Donald Trump Jr, along with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer promising to provide dirt on Clinton. “On June 9, 2016, senior representatives of the Trump Campaign met in Trump Tower with a Russian attorney expecting to receive derogatory information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government,” the report says.
The report also states:
“In sum, the investigation established multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government. Those links included Russian offers of assistance to the Campaign. In some instances, the Campaign was receptive to the offer, while in other instances the Campaign officials shied away.”
This story is being updated.
