Robert Mueller testifies: Live updates – CNN

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan grilled Robert Mueller on why he charged some people, but not others.

Jordan specifically referred Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese academic suspected of being a link between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. 

“This is the guy who told Papadopoulos he’s the guy who starts it all,” Jordan told Mueller. “And when the FBI interviews him, he lies three times and yet you don’t charge him with a crime.”

Jordan went on to list all the people who Mueller charged for lying to the FBI.

He then asked: “You charge Michael Flynn, a three-star general, with false statements but the guy who puts the country through this whole saga, starts it off, for three years we have lived this now, he lies and you guys don’t charge him. And I’m curious as to why.”

Mueller responded, saying “it’s obvious” he can’t get into charging decisions.

In a tense exchange, Jordan questioned Mueller on Mifsud, but Mueller repeatedly answered that “I can’t get into that.”

“A lot of things you can’t get into,” Jordan said. “What’s interesting, you can charge 13 Russians no one’s ever heard of, no one’s ever seen. No one is ever going to hear of them. No one’s ever going to see them, you can charge them. You can charge all kinds of people who are around the president with false statements. But the guy who launches everything, the guy who puts this whole story in motion, you can’t charge him. I think that’s amazing.”

But Mueller didn’t agree.

“I’m not certain — I’m not certain I agree with your characterizations,” he said.

All charges Mueller brought were signed off by then-deputy assistant Rod Rosenstein, who was overseeing the investigation