Rep. Welch questions Mueller: 'I hope this is not the new normal, but I fear it is'

Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is afraid of the new normal. Or at least what it could look like in the United States.

Mueller responded to a line of questioning by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., during testimony Wednesday afternoon before the House Intelligence Committee on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Mueller's appearance before the Intelligence Committee followed his morning testimony before the House Judiciary Committee over the 448-page redacted report on the investigation released this year.

The report addressed concerns about potential obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election. The House Intelligence Committee and Welch focused on the latter subject.  

'Collusion' vs. 'Conspiracy'

Welch got to question Mueller around the two-hour mark in the House Intelligence Committee's session. The representative opened by asking about collusion and Mueller expressed his reticence to use the term. The two agreed on the word "conspiracy" instead. 

Welch reiterated some of the findings in the report. He referenced examples like a meeting in June 2016 involving individuals with ties to Russia and people close to the president, like son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Donald Trump Jr. 

Welch mentioned that the meeting was arranged with the expectation that "dirt on the Hillary Clinton campaign" would be revealed, which Mueller reaffirmed.  

Mueller responded to other lines of inquiry, accepting or denying Welch's statements regarding Russian activity around the 2016 election. 

Rep. Welch reflects on Mueller testimony

The representative spoke with the Free Press a day after Mueller's testimony. He remained strong in his conviction that the testimony was meant to provide necessary information to the public. 

More:Rep. Peter Welch, Intelligence Committee to question Mueller on Russian influence in 2016 campaign

Welch didn't feel that there was anything particularly revolutionary revealed about the investigation itself, acknowledging he read the report and Mueller did not stray much from its contents. 

"What I found really quite disturbing was how alarmed he is about Russian interference," Welch said, recalling Mueller's statement during the testimony that Russians were interfering "as we sit here." 

He also discussed the Duty to Report Act (H.R.2424) legislation he co-sponsored, introduced in April 2019. The act's goals are as follows:

"To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require reporting to the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of offers by foreign nationals to make prohibited contributions, donations, expenditures, or disbursements, and for other purposes."

He felt Wednesday's testimony could give a boost to the legislation. 

"It was a threat that's taking place right now," he said. 

A pattern by the Trump administration to stonewall investigations is one of the reasons the representative supports impeachment of the president, he said. Welch felt Trump put himself above the law and beyond accountability, which the representative considered "extremely disturbing."  

He was hesitant to dub Wednesday's testimony as a success. 

"It's not like a football game, you know?" Welch said. "This is an ongoing process." 

Welch said people critical of Trump might have considered the testimony as evidence of their convictions, while individuals who support the president might have also considered the day a positive one. 

"I think it had its own independent importance to have the author of that report answer questions in Congress and be able to speak directly in an unfiltered way," he said. 

Mueller: 'I hope this is not the new normal'

Rep. Welch expressed worry regarding the conduct of politicians.

"Have we established a new normal from this past campaign that is going to apply to future campaigns?" he asked Mueller. "So that if any one of us running for the U.S. House, any candidate for the Senate, any candidate for the presidency of the United States — aware that if a hostile foreign power is trying to influence an election — has no duty to report that to the FBI or other authorities?" 

Mueller interjected. 

"I hope this is not the new normal," he said. "But I fear it is." 

Contact Maleeha Syed at mzsyed@freepressmedia.com or 802-495-6595. Follow her on Twitter @MaleehaSyed89.