Special Counsel Robert Mueller's public statement Wednesday was meant to "light the fuse" for impeachment proceedings against President Trump, Rep. Devin Nunes claimed Thursday.
Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News' "Hannity" that observers of Mueller's rare public remarks likely asked themselves why he held the news conference.
"You just have to ask yourself, sitting back thinking about it: What was that press conference all about yesterday?" Nunes said. "To light the fuse for impeachment."
Nunes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Mueller should have ended his Russia investigation many months sooner than he did.
"We know that he's talked about conspiracy to collude. Well, when he walked in the door, he knew there was no evidence of collusion," Nunes said. "He should have been done after day two."
Nunes also asserted that Mueller tried to do a "victory lap" at his news conference by talking "about the Russians they found, the Russians they prosecuted," while Nunes claimed he and his fellow Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee had the same information.
In remarks from the Justice Department on Wednesday, Mueller announced the closing of his office and detailed the findings of his investigation, underscoring that there “was not sufficient evidence to charge a conspiracy” with regard to whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election.
But Mueller did not mince words on his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.
“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,” Mueller said. “We did not determine whether the president did commit a crime.”
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Mueller explained longstanding Justice Department policy, which states that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime.
“Charging the president with a crime was not an option we could consider,” Mueller explained, adding that “it would be unfair to accuse someone of a crime when there could be no court resolution of the charge.”
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
