“Mueller’s performance raised questions that reached far beyond one appearance before one committee. It called into doubt the degree to which Mueller was in charge of the entire special counsel investigation.”
(Byron York – Washington Examiner) It took just minutes for Robert Mueller’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee to turn into a painful exercise when it became clear the 74 year-old special counsel had difficulty handling the questions posed to him about his long, complex investigation into the Trump-Russia affair.
Mueller was slow to react to questions. He frequently asked for questions to be repeated. He sometimes appeared confused. He did not appear to be conversant with some issues in the investigation. He did not, or could not, put together detailed answers even to those questions he agreed to address.
Reporters who have covered Mueller for years saw differences from his appearances in the past. “I haven’t seen a performance quite like this from Mueller,” the New York Times’ Noah Weiland said in an online discussion. “In 12 years as FBI director, he gave plenty of clipped responses. But more often than not he was more rhetorically agile than anyone on the committees that were questioning him. And there was rarely a time when he even paused for a second after a question was asked. There was little searching in his eyes for answers. He rarely looked at notes.”