Robert Mueller to publicly testify before US Congress
Updated
US special counsel Robert Mueller will testify in an open session before the House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on July 17, the panels’ Democratic chairmen have confirmed.
Key points:
- Mr Mueller agreed to honour subpoenas to testify before Congress, despite being reluctant to appear
- In April Mr Mueller issued his report into possible Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election
- He will appear before two public hearings back to back
Mr Mueller issued a report in April on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the judiciary panel, and Adam Schiff, head of the intelligence panel, said in a joint statement that Mr Mueller had agreed to testify after the two committees issued subpoenas on Tuesday.
Mr Schiff told reporters shortly after the announcement that Mueller was reluctant to testify but agreed to honour the subpoenas.
He said there will be two hearings “back to back,” one for each committee, and they will also meet with him in closed session afterward.
The Justice Department declined to comment on Mr Mueller’s agreed appearance.
The committees have been in negotiations with Mr Mueller for more than two months about his testimony.
The special counsel has been hesitant to testify and speak about the investigation beyond a public statement he issued last month.
In a letter to Mr Mueller accompanying the subpoenas, Mr Schiff said “the American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions.”
In his 448-page report issued in April, Mr Mueller concluded there was not enough evidence to establish a conspiracy between Mr Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, which was the original question that started the investigation.
But he also said he could not exonerate Mr Trump over questions the president had obstructed justice.
The report examined several episodes in which Mr Trump attempted to influence the investigation.
The testimony from the ex-FBI director is likely to be the most highly anticipated congressional hearing in years, particularly given Mr Mueller’s silence throughout the two-year investigation.
He never responded to any of the public attacks from Mr Trump, nor did he ever personally join his prosecutors in court or make announcements of criminal charges from the team.
His sole public statement came from the Justice Department podium last month, when he sought to explain his decision to not indict Mr Trump or to accuse him of criminal conduct. He also put lawmakers on notice that he did not ever intend to say more than what he put in the report.
“We chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself,” he said at the news conference.
“I would not provide information beyond what is already public in any appearance before Congress.”
Those remarks did little to settle the demands for his testimony, with Democrats and Republicans likely to confront him on his team’s conclusions, his reaction to a drumbeat of criticism from the president and his personal opinion about whether Mr Trump would have been charged were he not the commander-in-chief.
AP
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