Former special counsel Robert Mueller refused to answer questions in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday about Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious Maltese professor accused of lying to the FBI in the special counsel’s report.
Mueller’s report characterized Mifsud as having ties to Russian nationals, and said that he lied in FBI interviews in February 2017 about his interactions in 2016 with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos.
But while Papadopoulos pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2017 to lying to the FBI about his own interactions with Mifsud, the professor somehow escaped charges of his own. (RELATED: Mueller Claimed Joseph Mifsud Lied About Papadopoulos Contacts, But He Wasn’t Charged)
Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan pressed Mueller for information on Mifsud, but the former FBI director repeatedly declined to discuss the issue.
“Why didn’t you charge him with a crime?” Jordan asked Mueller of Mifsud.
“I can’t get into internal deliberations with regard who would or would not be charged,” Mueller said.
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“You charged a lot of other people,” Jordan said.
“Well, I can’t get into it, and it’s obvious that we can’t get into charging decisions,” said Mueller, who was subpoenaed to appear for Wednesday’s hearing.
“When the special counsel’s office interviewed Mifsud, did he lie to you guys too?”
“Can’t get into that.”
“Did you interview Mifsud?”
“Can’t get into that.”
“Is Mifsud Western intelligence or Western intelligence?”
“Can’t get into that.”
Papadopoulos said in his plea agreement that he first met Mifsud on March 14, 2016, just after joining the Trump campaign. Their most significant meeting with respect to the Russia probe took place on April 26, 2016 in London. Papadopoulos said that Mifsud told him that he had learned that Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands” of her emails.
Mifsud’s motives for meeting with Papadopoulos remain unclear. Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to two Russian nationals, one of whom worked for a think tank linked to the Russian foreign ministry, but he also had ties to Western intelligence agencies and the U.S. State Department.
Mifsud was interviewed by the FBI while visiting the U.S. to speak at an event attended by Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Mifsud’s attorney, Stephan Roh, has also told The Daily Caller News Foundation that Mifsud worked closely with Western intelligence through Link University, a Rome-based university.
Papadopoulos insists that he did not share that information with anyone else on the Trump campaign. The special counsel ultimately did not find that Papadopoulos or anyone on the campaign conspired with Russia or Mifsud.
Two weeks after the meeting, Papadopoulos met in London with Alexander Downer, who then served as Australia’s top diplomat to the U.K.
Downer said that Papadopoulos mentioned Russia might have information on Clinton that would help the Trump campaign. The diplomat passed the information to the FBI more than two months later, and the bureau used the tip to open its counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign.
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