Rep. Jim Jordan, after grilling former special counsel Robert Mueller during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee about why some people faced criminal charges during his investigation but not others, snapped at Mueller that there were a "lot of things you can't get into" when Mueller refused to answer his questions.
Specifically, the Ohio Republican asked Mueller about Joseph Mifsud, the Maltese professor and FBI informant who former campaign aide George Papadopoulos had claimed told him in April 2016 that Russia had "dirt" that could harm Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign, reports MSNBC.
"He's the guy who starts it all," Jordan told Mueller, "and when the FBI interviews him, he lies three times and yet you don't charge him with a crime."
Several others were charged with lying to the FBI, including retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, said Jordan, but "the guy who puts the country through this whole saga, starts it off, for three years we have lived this now, he lies and you guys don't charge him. And I'm curious as to why."
Mueller repeatedly told Jordan that he "can't get into that" as the questions about Mifsud continued until Jordan told him there were "a lot of things you can't get into."
"What's interesting, you can charge 13 Russians no one's ever heard of, no one's ever seen," said Jordan. "No one is ever going to hear of them. No one's ever going to see them, you can charge them. You can charge all kinds of people who are around the president with false statements. But the guy who launches everything, the guy who puts this whole story in motion, you can't charge him. I think that's amazing."
Mueller told him that he wasn't certain that he could agree with Jordan's "characterizations."
Muller was not the person making the final call on who would face criminal charges. That job fell to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation after Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself from the case.