Former special counsel Robert Mueller made it clear at the outset of his Hill testimony Wednesday (July 24), which was roadblocked across broadcast and cable outlets, that he would continue to let the report on Russian election meddling be his testimony, but that included that the President was not exonerated of the charge of obstruction of justice charge.

Mueller provided swift and sound-bite friendly affirmative answers to questions from Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and other Democrats, including that exoneration question, as well as ones on whether he committed acts capable of obstructing, was not "exculpated" of the acts he was accused of committing, and could be indicted after he left office.

It was the first of two Democrat-led hearings Wednesday into Mueller's report.

Related: Mueller To Draw Broadcast Crowd

Republicans treated Mueller as a hostile witness, with ranking member Doug Collins (R-Ga.), peppering him with his own questions, but ones that Mueller had to repeatedly ask to be repeated, and Rep. John Ratcliff (R-Tex.) slamming the report, which he said "Democrats and socialists" were doing "dramatic readings" from.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) tried to get short answers, but Mueller said he had to find a citation in one case, or said something was not clear, or asked where Sensenbrenner was reading from, and to repeat the question, or that it was one of those areas he declined to discuss and directed him to the report.

Anchors and commentators had spent the minutes before the first hearing began in the Judiciary Committee, began suggesting the questions they would like answered, though many said they expected Mueller not to answer them.

The hearing began with a heckler being escorted out of the hearing room as Mueller entered.

Nadler, in his opening statement, said the themes were responsibility integrity and accountability, embodied by Mueller, who is a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former FBI director whose investigation of Russian election meddling secured 37 indictments.

He laid out a case of obstruction against the President using findings from the report, which he said brought the committee to the hearing Wednesday (July 24).

He said Congress needed to address the evidence he had uncovered and formally accuse the President of wrongdoing, which begins with the committee. "We will consider all appropriate remedies," giving the clear suggestion that could be a recommendation of impeachment.

Collins pointed out in his opening statement that the President did not shut down the investigation because he knew he was innocent. Russia meddled and the President didn't shut the investigation, and nothing in the hearing will change those facts, he said.

He said the takeaways form the hearing should be that Russia meddled, that the President did not collude in that effort, and that the country should not weaponize its power against private citizens -- in this case, candidate Trump.

But Collins said the hearing was long overdue to the degree that it should bring closure, something it did not appear to be doing at press time.

Screen grab via C-span.org.

The Mueller report includes a warning to this and future Presidents about the power of social media and public comments made online by powerful public officials.  

The President has used Twitter throughout special counsel Robert Mueller's invsetigation into Russian election meddling to attack the investigation, investigators, and witnesses. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032247043992023040[/embed]

While the report passed on concluding whether the evidence of the President's attempts to influence the investigation it compiled rose to the level of criminal obstuction of justice, it also said the fact that those were public statements rather than behind the scenes did not immunize them.  

That means they could be used as evidence if Congress presses its own obstruction of justice investigation. 

"[T]he President's statements insinuating that members of Cohen 's family committed crimes after Cohen began cooperating with the government could be viewed as an effort to retaliate against Cohen and chill further testimony adverse to the President by Cohen or others," the report said by way of example.

It was not saying that was the case, only that it could have been. 

"It is possible that the President believes, as reflected in his tweets, that Cohen 'ma[d]e[] up stories' in order to get a deal for himself and 'get his wife and father-in-law...off Scott Free," the report continued. "It also is possible that the President's mention of Cohen 's wife and father-in-law were not intended to affect Cohen as a witness but rather were part of a public-relations strategy aimed at discrediting Cohen and deflecting attention away from the President on Cohen-related matters. 

"But the President's suggestion that Cohen 's family members committed crimes happened more than once, including just before Cohen was sentenced (at the same time as the President stated that Cohen "should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence") and again just before Cohen was scheduled to testify before Congress. The timing of the statements supports an inference that they were intended at least in part to discourage Cohen from further cooperation."

The report said that, "[w]hile it may be more difficult to establish that public-facing acts were motivated by a corrupt intent, the President's power to influence actions, persons, and events is enhanced by his unique ability to attract attention through use of mass communications." 

So, if tweeted attacks have the effect of intimidating witnesses or altering testimony, the threat to justice is no less and "no principle of law" excludes such public communications from the scope of obstruction of justice, it concluded.

WASHINGTON — The Mueller report may have concluded there was not enough evidence of collusion and declined to reach a conclusion on the evidence indicating possible obstruction, but one thing it did show was that cries of fake news by the White House were in some cases crying wolf.

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For example, the report found that in January 2018, following a story in the New York Times, President Donald Trump's personal counsel called the attorney for White House counsel Don McGahn and asked that McGahn put out a statement denying Trump had asked him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller or that McGahn threatened to quit, as the Times had reported. McGahn's response, through his attorney, was no, that the Times article was not wrong, though it was inaccurate in that he did not tell the president directly he would resign.

The president had branded the underlying story that he had called for dismissing Mueller. "Fake news, folks. Fake news. A typical New York Times fake story," something he has done with regularity over the past months and years:

[embed]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1111771337519972352[/embed]

A week later, according to the report, then chief of staff Reince Priebus went on Meet the Press to say he had not heard the president say he wanted McGahn fired.

Trump then tried to force McGahn to dispute the Times story in writing, even though McGahn said it was essentially true, signaling McGahn might be fired if he didn't dispute the report, which the president said didn‘t “look good.” McGahn again refused.

While it is the president‘s word against McGahn's, the report concluded there was sustantial evidence “in repeatedly urging McGahn to dispute that he was orderd to have the special xounsel terminated, the president acted for the purpose of influencing McGahn‘s account in order to deflect or prevent further scrutiny of the president's conduct towards the investigation.”

It was another kind of "March madness" Sunday (March 24) as big news broke inside the Beltway.

Broadcast and cable nets, with the exception of CBS, broke into regular programming Sunday afternoon to report the news that, according to Attorney General Bill Barr's letter to Congress, there was no evidence President Donald Trump or his campaign conspired or colluded or coordinated with the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 election, and that there was not enough evidence of the crime of obstruction of Justice by the President, though neither was the President exonerated of that charge.  

The President called the investigation "an illegal takedown that failed."

Democrats will hinge on that "no exoneration" conclusion from Barr, based on special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which was concluded Friday (March 22), while Republicans will point to the "no collusion" conclusion. 

it was Barr who drew the conclusion from the report's evidence of no obstruction of justice, rather than Mueller, which Democrats could also latch on to to push for more info and even push for impeachment, which has a lower standard than sufficient evidence of indictment. 

“After reviewing the Special Counsel’s final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense," Barr said, according to the White House.

Related: Nets Gang Up on Mueller Report Conclusion

In his note, Barr said that the conclusion that there was no obstruction was separate from whether a sitting President can be indicted. Observers had been looking for the answer to whether there was no indictment because the general Justice theory that is that the President can't, or that there was not sufficient evidence whether or not he could be, so Barr said it was the latter. 

The White House was definitely declaring victory per the following tweet from the President (who appeared to feel exonerated anyway) and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders:

[embed]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1109918388133023744[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1109911057013919746[/embed]

The President also spoke briefly about it:

"After a long investigation, after so many people have been so badly hurt, after not looking at the other side where a lot of bad things happen, there was no collusion with Russia, no obstruction, the President said. He also said it was a shame the country and "your President" has had to go through this. He said it was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side.

“After a long look, after a long investigation, after so many people have been so badly hurt, after not looking at the other side where a lot of bad things happened...it was just announced there was no collusion with Russia,” Trump said, calling the collusion allegations, “the most ridiculous thing ever. 

“It was complete and total exoneration” 

“It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. To be honest it’s a shame that your president had to go through this.” 

“This was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at their other side” 

“It’s a complete exoneration”

Vice President Mike Pence included a shot at the media in his reaction:

"After two years of investigation, and reckless accusations by many Democrats and members of the media, the Special Counsel has confirmed what President Trump said along; there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election... This total vindication of the President of the United States and our campaign should be welcomed by every American who cherishes the truth and the integrity of our elections."

The news nets all morning had been anticipating the letter to Congress would come down Sunday (March 24).  CBS was the odd net out as it continued to cover the NCAA Tournament game between North Carolina and Washington as the story was breaking, though it did air a special report during halftime of the game and encouraged viewers to check out its digital platform for more news.

CBS later in the day said it would air an hour, prime time, special, The Mueller Report: A Turning Point, Monday (March 25) at 10-11.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) was not happy and signaled in a tweet that Barr would have a date with the committee.

[embed]https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/1109913142933573632[/embed]

Nadler's opposite number in the Republican-controlled Senate saw it quite differently.

“I have just received topline findings from Attorney General Barr. Good day for the rule of law, "confirmed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a statement. "Great day for President Trump and his team. No collusion and no obstruction. The cloud hanging over President Trump has been removed by this report. 

“Bad day for those hoping the Mueller investigation would take President Trump down. 

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, agreed: 

“For two years, Special Counsel Mueller conducted his investigation with every available Justice Department resource at his disposal, and today’s principal conclusions assure every American there was no collusion between Russia and Donald Trump or his campaign," said Collins."Russia is a bad actor with dark intentions, but there is no evidence that they compromised a presidential nominee. The special counsel’s investigation was long, thorough and conclusive: There was no collusion. There is no constitutional crisis. As the report states, 'the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.' 

Sen. Charles Grassley signaled that Congress and special counsel to the Justice Department Robert Mueller will be able to operate independently in their investigations of Russian influence on the presidential election and the firing of FBI director James Comey, who had been leading the investigation of former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's Russian contacts.

Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a statement to that effect after a closed-door meeting with Mueller, which also included ranking member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

”We had a very productive discussion with Special Counsel Mueller today on our parallel investigations to ensure each can proceed without impeding the other," Grassley said in a statement issued by his office. "We appreciate Special Counsel Mueller’s willingness to meet with us, and both parties have committed to keeping an open dialogue as we proceed.”