In an exchange featuring textbooks and a blown-up print out of a cable news headline, one Republican lawmaker went after former special counsel Robert Mueller's use of the word "exonerate" in his report into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, blasted Mueller for saying that his report did not exonerate President Donald Trump because he said Mueller does not have the legal power to exonerate Trump.

"The statement about exoneration is misleading, and it's meaningless. It colors this investigation — one word of out the entire portion of your report. And it's a meaningless word that has no legal meaning, and it has colored your entire report," Turner said.

Mueller, who was in his second of two hearing before House panels Wednesday, mostly did not push back against Turner and said he wouldn't get into the legal debate.

Turner started by confirming what Mueller had said earlier in the day about the word "collusion," which Mueller did not use because it doesn't have meaning in a criminal law context.

What about 'exculpate'? Mueller said Trump was 'not exculpated' for obstruction of justice. The dictionary responded

Turner then asked if the special counsel could have powers greater than the Attorney General, which Mueller said they could not.

"Mr. Mueller, does the Attorney General have the power or authority to exonerate?" he said as he grabbed various books. "And what I'm putting up here is the United States code. This is where the Attorney General gets his power. And the constitution, and the annotated cases of these, which we've searched.

"We even went to your law school, because I went to Case Western but I thought maybe your law school teaches it differently, and we got the criminal law textbook from your law school."

Mueller, who graduated from University of Virginia School of Law, sat silently as Turner continued.

Viral moments:The top moments from Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee hearing

"Mr. Mueller, nowhere in these, because we had them scanned, is there a process or description on 'exonerate.' There's no office of exoneration at the Attorney General's office. There's no certificate at the bottom of his desk. Mr. Mueller, would you agree with me that the Attorney General does not have the power to exonerate?"

Mueller replied, plainly: "I'm going to pass on that."

"Why?" Turner asked.

"Because it embroils us in a legal discussion, and I'm not prepared to do a legal discussion in that arena," Mueller said.

Turner said he assumed that Attorney General William Barr knew he didn't have the power to exonerate, either.

"If your report is to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General doesn't have the power to exonerate and he knows that you do not have that power, you don't have to tell him that you're not exonerating the president. He knows this already," Turner said.

Mueller then interjected, replying that they included the line "for exactly for reason."

"He may not know it, and he should know it," Mueller said.

Mueller defends hiring practices:'Strove to hire those individuals that could do the job'

Turner asked if Mueller thought Barr thought there was an "office of exoneration" in the Department of Justice, to which Mueller said, "that's not what I said."

Turner later pointed to a large, print out of a shot from CNN earlier Wednesday with a chyron that read, "MUELLER: TRUMP WAS NOT EXONERATED."

"What you know is that this can't say, 'Mueller exonerated Trump,' because you don't have the power or authority to exonerate Trump," Turner said. "You have no more power to declare him exonerated than you have the power to declare him Anderson Cooper."

Turner continued, saying that no one in the justice system can exonerate, before the time limit for his questioning was reached.

Trump, though, has claimed numerous times that Mueller's report exonerates him, including calling it "a complete and total exoneration" shortly after the report was released.