Mueller rejects Trump’s claims of exoneration, ‘witch hunt’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former special counsel Robert Mueller has warned Congress that Russia still represents a great threat to American democracy, telling lawmakers that the kind of election interference that took place in 2016 continues today.

As far as President Donald Trump and the investigation, Mueller rejected the president’s oft-stated claims that he had been exonerated and that the probe itself was a “witch hunt.”

Republicans dismissed Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday as old news while Democrats sought to rekindle interest in the Mueller report’s sections on potential obstruction of justice by the president.

Trump himself claimed vindication in Mueller’s appearances before two House committees, telling reporters that it had been a devastating day for Democrats and that they had begun with nothing and had ended up with “less than nothing.”