Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) questioned former special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE Wednesday about statements in which she said President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE discouraged his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort from cooperating with investigators and whether it rose to the level of witness tampering.

Jayapal asked Mueller to define “flipping” as Trump used the term in several tweets. Mueller responded that flipping is “[to] have somebody cooperate in a criminal investigation,” but declined to answer a broader question about how essential the practice was to law enforcement.

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Trump had sharply criticized the practice, saying it should almost be illegal, while praising those who show “loyalty.”

Jayapal went on to cite passages in Mueller’s report describing how Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani suggested a pardon for Manafort was a possibility, as well as statements from Trump to the press calling Manafort “very brave” for not cooperating with the investigation.

.@RepJayapal uses her questioning to make a case that Trump's public comments about Manafort constituted witness tampering pic.twitter.com/tFz096PcQL — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2019

In the report, Jayapal told Mueller, “You make a very serious conclusion about the president’s involvement with the Manafort criminal proceedings,” projecting a quote from the report saying that evidence showed Trump’s conduct “indicates that the president intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government.”

“When someone tries to stop another person from cooperating with law enforcement and they do it because they are worried about what they might say, it seems clear that this is a classic definition of witness tampering,” Jayapal added.