We all have our favorite questions from the Mueller report but objectively, the obvious ones should get asked, and if GOP committee members are smart, they will also ask them in order to give themselves cover when they run for reelection. There will be many variations closed and open, that Mueller will have to handle.
As others have noted, there will be those questions and maybe answers that aggravate viewers of congressional hearings, regardless of who is in the majority.
But there are some that have remained from the various attempts to obfuscate the Mueller report and the continuing lies and spin coming from Individual-1.
1) Based on your investigation, can you exonerate the president of federal crimes?
2) Is there substantial evidence that the president committed one or more acts of obstruction of justice?
Note that there will be follow-ups regarding the degree of criminality but once Mueller says “yes”, the continuing inquiry cannot even be erased by some possible “noes”. There will be many more items though which the sessions must wade, and one assumes that Democrats will use their time wisely. Nothing gets ended today. Everything begins.
These questions by Jonathan Turley would be good if the above get asked as well:
Why not consult the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel about indicting a sitting president, since there was obvious disagreement over past memos?
Relevant page in Mueller report: Vol. 2 p. 1.
Do you believe the attorney general and deputy attorney general violated DOJ policy by reaching a conclusion on obstruction?
Relevant page in Mueller report: Vol. 2 p.1
Is there any obstruction if Trump only ordered his White House counsel to tell the Justice Department that you should be removed but left the decision to others?
Relevant page in Mueller report: Vol. 2 p. 9
Do you disagree with Barr and Rosenstein's conclusion that questions about Trump's intent would undermine a potential obstruction prosecution?
Relevant page in Mueller report: Vol. 2, p. 6
Your report refuses to accuse Trump of obstruction because of DOJ policy, but you also write you would clear him if you could. Which is it?
Relevant page in Mueller report: Vol. 2, p. 2, 8
Here’s ten interesting questions aside from the counterintelligence analysis ones:
28. What is the burden of proof that the Justice Department must meet to prove criminal conspiracy, and how does the Justice Department approach this standard in terms of deciding whether to bring charges? Based on the evidence you uncovered in the course of investigating conspiracy, do you believe your evidence would be sufficient to meet a lower burden of proof, for example, the civil standard of “preponderance of the evidence”?
29. What are the most plausible explanations for Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort’s repeatedly sharing internal polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a person the FBI assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence?
30. Your investigation was not able to establish, according to criminal law standards, whether George Papadopoulos informed the Trump campaign about the Russian government having derogatory information on Clinton in the form of emails and indications from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to Clinton. Do you believe that it’s more likely than not that Papadopoulos did inform the campaign?
V. Next Steps
31. Overall, what did you anticipate happening next when you submitted your final report? In particular, what did you think Congress would do with your findings regarding obstruction of justice, given the detailed nature of your findings and your view that it would be improper to opine on whether those findings constituted the commission of criminal activity by a sitting president?
32. Based on your investigation, what legislative reforms do you think may be needed to stop ongoing or future foreign government interference in U.S. elections? Would you recommend a federal requirement for campaigns to report any offer of assistance from a foreign government agent, with failure punishable as a crime? Would you recommend codifying a federal offense for knowingly trafficking in stolen property (perhaps specifically in the campaign context, or perhaps not), to include hacked emails and other electronic documents and communications? Would you recommend expansion of federal offenses for aiding and abetting violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act? Would you recommend changes or official clarifications of campaign finance law rules on foreign national contributions to political campaigns? Do you think Congress should look into the rules and enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Lobbying Disclosure Act?
33. A provision of the Special Counsel regulations (28 CFR 600.4) provide for non-criminal remedies for wrongdoing discovered by the investigation. What, if any, such remedies did you consider might be appropriate? Did you make any recommendations to the Attorney General or Acting Attorney General under this provision?
34. If Congress wanted to determine for itself the strength of the case of obstruction or abuse of power, not necessarily according to criminal law standards of proof, who would be the most important potential witnesses for the public to hear from and for Congress to call on to testify?
35. What major investigative questions remain, and how would you recommend Congress playing a role in answering them?
Question from Reader (David Cay Johnston):
36. Did acting Attorney General Whitaker, Attorney General Barr or Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein ever suggest that you wrap up your investigation? Did you in anyway file the report of your investigation earlier than you felt was appropriate?
Question from Reader:
37. Please generally describe the criteria for assessing whether a US citizen is acting to advance the interest of a foreign government. Was Candidate Trump evaluated with these criteria before the election? What was that assessment? Were any assessments documented? If so, where are those documents? Were any other members of the Trump campaign, Trump Organization, or Trump family so evaluated? Please indicate whether there was any pre-election assessment of Paul Manafort as a foreign agent for the Russian Government.
Question from Reader (edited):
38. It has been reported that as a component of Moscow Tower, Trump organization was to offer Putin a very expensive penthouse. Was this investigated? Is there any documentation except for what is in Vol. 1? Would such an arrangement be legal?
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Full Text of the Mueller Report's Executive Summaries
Full Text of the Mueller Report
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