Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, assailed his Democratic colleagues during Robert Mueller's second and final hearing of the day for what he said was their role in fostering the spread of British ex-spy Christopher Steele's unverified anti-Trump dossier.

Heralding the hearing as the "last gasp of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory," Nunes said in his opening remarks that Democrats were complicit in running a "Russia hoax" with the media to damage President Trump's reputation. At the same time, Nunes said the Democrats have "brazenly" ignored "red flags as well as the transparent absurdity of the claims they are making" to argue for "nearly three years that evidence of collusion is hidden just around the corner. Like the Loch Ness Monster, they insist it’s there even if no one can find it."

The California Republican said that for congressional Democrats, "the Russia investigation was never about finding the truth. It’s always been a simple media operation, and by their own accounts, that operation continues in this room today."

Whereas Mueller did not establish criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, Nunes said Democrats were colluding with Russia. In a clear swipe at Chairman Adam Schiff, who insists there is "evidence in plain sight" of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, Nunes said the opposite is true.

"And now that Mr. Mueller is here, they are claiming that the collusion has actually been in his report all along, hidden in plain sight. And they’re right, there is collusion in plain sight—collusion between Russia and the Democrats," Nunes said. "The Democrats colluded with Russian sources to develop the Steele dossier, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya colluded with the dossier’s architect, Fusion GPS head Glenn Simpson."





The dossier, which contained salacious claims about Trump's ties to Russia, was funded by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. It has been a source of consternation for Republicans because of its use to obtain warrants to surveil onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Steele was working for opposition research firm Fusion GPS when he compiled the dossier.

Mueller would not open up about the FBI's use of the dossier. He said in his opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee that he would not speak about the Steele dossier in his testimony nor about the FBI's opening of the Russia investigation that preceded his appointment, citing his consultation with the Justice Department about restrictions.

Nunes focused another part of his opening statement on what is now the subject of a Justice Department review: assessing the actions of the DOJ and FBI around the genesis of the Russia investigation. He said the FBI's investigation was "marred" by "corruption and bizarre abuses" and listed subjects of GOP concern, including Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, who served as an unofficial backchannel between Steele and the FBI, and Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese academic whose tip to the U.S. about former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos claiming that the Russians had damaging information about Hillary Clinton effectively started the inquiry.

It was reported Tuesday evening that U.S. Attorney John Durham, who has been tasked by Attorney General William Barr to lead a review of the origins of the Russia investigation, is seeking an interview with Mifsud.

Mueller spent the morning testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee, with Mueller often seeming hesitant and uncertain under questioning and, at times, even seeming unfamiliar with aspects of his own report.

Where the House Judiciary Committee focused mostly on issues related to obstruction of justice and other aspects discussed in Volume II of Mueller's report, it is likely that this afternoon's follow-up hearing with deal more with Volume I, which focused much more on Russian interference and the Trump campaign's foreign contacts.

The White House argued that Mueller's morning testimony was bad politically for Democrats. “The last three hours have been an epic embarrassment for the Democrats. Expect more of the same in the second half," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.

Until Wednesday, Mueller’s only public statement on the investigation occurred during a brief press conference in May, where Mueller expressed his hesitance about testifying.

“Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report — it contains our findings and analysis and the reasons for the decisions we made,” Mueller said at the time. “The work speaks for itself and the report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.”

Mueller reluctantly agreed to testify following subpoenas from the Democrat-led House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

The eve of the hearing saw some last minute drama as the Justice Department instructed Mueller not to go beyond what has already been made public in his report and as Mueller requested that his chief of staff Aaron Zebley be allowed to appear alongside him.

Following the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Mueller was appointed special counsel in May 2017 to investigate any ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. Mueller’s 448-page report concluded that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election, but he did not establish any sort of conspiracy or coordination between the Kremlin and any Trump associates — or any Americans, for that matter.

Mueller declined to reach a decision on obstruction of justice, but did outline 10 different episodes of possible obstruction committed by Trump during the FBI’s initial Russia inquiry and during the special counsel investigation, including Trump’s alleged request to then-White House counsel Don McGahn to have acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein fire Mueller. Attorney General William Barr and Rosenstein determined Trump had not obstructed justice.

Mueller’s investigation swept up a number of Trump associates, including: former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was convicted on bank fraud and financial fraud and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice; former Trump campaign associate George Papadopoulos, who also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI; former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who also agreed to a guilty plea deal in connection to lies he told to agents; and former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and was found guilty of campaign finance violations. Longtime Trump associate Roger Stone is charged with witness tampering and making false statements, and faces a trial later this year.

Mueller also indicted 12 Russians and alleged members of the GRU for their role in the hacking of the Democratic emails and the dissemination of those emails to WikiLeaks in 2016. Mueller indicted another 13 Russians and three Russian companies — including the Internet Research Agency — for their alleged role in social media disinformation campaigns during the election.

READ REP. NUNES' FULL PREPARED REMARKS BELOW:

"Welcome, everyone, to the last gasp of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory, as the Democrats continue to foist this spectacle on the American people as well as on you Mr. Mueller."

"As the American people may recall, the media first began spreading this conspiracy theory in the spring of 2016 when Fusion GPS, funded by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton Campaign, started developing the Steele dossier, a collection of outlandish accusations that Trump and his associates were Russian agents. Fusion GPS, Steele, and other confederates fed these absurdities to naïve or partisan reporters and to top officials in numerous government agencies including the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the State Department. Among other things, the FBI used dossier allegations to obtain a warrant to spy on the Trump Campaign."

"Despite acknowledging dossier allegations as being “salacious and unverified,” former FBI Director James Comey briefed those allegations to President Obama and President-elect Trump. Those briefings conveniently leaked to the press, resulting in the publication of the dossier and launching thousands of false press stories based on the word of a foreign ex-spy—one who admitted he was “desperate” that Trump lose the election and who was eventually fired as an FBI source for leaking to the press. After Comey himself was fired, by his own admission, he leaked derogatory information on President Trump to the press for the specific purpose, and successfully so, of engineering the appointment of a Special Counsel, Robert Mueller."

"The FBI investigation was marred by further corruption and bizarre abuses. Top DOJ official Bruce Ohr, whose own wife worked on Fusion GPS’ anti-Trump operation, fed Steel’s information to the FBI even after the FBI fired Steele; the top FBI investigator and his lover, another top FBI official, constantly texted about how much they hated Trump and wanted to stop him from being elected; and the entire investigation was opened based not on any Five Eyes intelligence, but on a tip from a foreign politician about a conversation involving Joseph Mifsud. He’s a Maltese diplomat who’s widely portrayed as a Russian agent but seems to have far more connections with western governments, including the FBI and our own State Department, than with Russia."

"Brazenly ignoring all these red flags as well as the transparent absurdity of the claims they are making, the Democrats have argued for nearly three years that evidence of collusion is hidden just around the corner. Like the Loch Ness Monster, they insist it’s there even if no one can find it. Consider this:"



"In March 2017, Democrats on this committee said they had “more than circumstantial evidence” of collusion, but they couldn’t reveal it yet. Mr. Mueller was soon appointed, and they said he would find the collusion."

"Then when no collusion was found in Mr. Mueller’s indictments, the Democrats said we’d find it in his final report."

"Then when there was no collusion in the report, we were told Attorney General Barr was hiding it."

"Then when it was clear Barr wasn’t hiding anything, we were told it will be revealed through a hearing with Mr. Mueller himself.

And now that Mr. Mueller is here, they are claiming that the collusion has actually been in his report all along, hidden in plain sight. And they’re right, there is collusion in plain sight—collusion between Russia and the Democrats. The Democrats colluded with Russian sources to develop the Steele dossier, and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya colluded with the dossier’s architect, Fusion GPS head Glenn Simpson."

"The Democrats have already admitted, both in interviews and through their usual anonymous statements to reporters, that today’s hearing is not about getting information at all. They said they want to “bring the Mueller report to life,” and create a “television moment” through ploys like having Mr. Mueller recite passages from his own report. In other words, this hearing is political theater—it’s a Hail Mary attempt to convince the American people that collusion is real and it’s concealed in the report. Granted, that’s a strange argument to make about a report that is public—it’s almost like the Democrats prepared arguments accusing Mr. Barr of hiding the report, and didn’t bother to update their claims once he published the entire thing."

"Among congressional Democrats, the Russia investigation was never about finding the truth. It’s always been a simple media operation, and by their own accounts, that operation continues in this room today. Once again, numerous pressing issues this Committee needs to address are put on hold to indulge the political fantasies of people who believed it was their destiny to serve in the Hillary Clinton administration. It’s time for the curtain to close on the Russia hoax—the conspiracy theory is dead. At some point, I would argue, we’re going to have to get back to work. Until then, I yield back."