You understood your report would be public,
right?
I understood, based on comments that the Attorney General had
made,
that he had committed to make as much of my
report public as consistent with legal policy and legal requirements.
And you could have chosen just to comment on the
President's particular recall visa via document or a set of
documents.
But you decided to go further and make a generalized
statement about his memory,
didn't you?
Congressman, I could have written my report theoretically in a
way that omitted references to the president's memory,
but that would have been an incomplete and improper report.
And that it was.
You could have written explanation about it.
You could have written your report with his with comments
about his specific recollection as to documents or a set
of documents.
But you chose a general pejorative reference to the president.
You understood when you made that decision,
didn't you, Mr. Herr, that you would ignite a political
firestorm with that language,
didn't you? Congressman, politics played no part whatsoever in my
investigative steps.
You understood nevertheless.
You cannot tell me you're so naive as to to
think your words would not have created a political firestorm.
You understood that, didn't you?
When you wrote those words,
when you decided to include those words,
when you decided to go beyond specific references to documents,
you understood how they would be manipulated by by my
colleagues here on the GOP side of the island,
by President Trump. You understood that,
did you not, Congressman, what I understood?
Is the regulations that govern my conduct as special counsel
Congressman,
I do not have the Trump indictment in front of
me,
but I need to address.
Something that you said in your prior question.
What you were suggesting is that I needed to provide
a different version of my report that would be fit
for public release.
That is nowhere in the rules.
I was to prepare a confidential report that was comprehensive
and thorough of an.
What is in the rules is you don't gratuitously do
things to prejudice the subject of an investigation.
When you're declining to prosecute,
you don't gratuitously add language that you know will be
useful in a political campaign.
You were not born yesterday.
You understood exactly what you were doing.
It was a choice. You certainly didn't have to include
that language.
You could have said Visa V the documents that were
found of the university.
The president did not recall.
There is nothing more common.
You know this, I know this.
There is nothing more common with a witness of any
age.
When asked about events that are years old to say,
I do not recall. Indeed,
they're instructed by their attorney to do that if they
have any question about it.
You understood that you made a choice.
That was a political choice.
It was the wrong choice.