BREAKING NEWS: Mueller agrees to testify in Congress next month in PUBLIC after getting a subpoena
- Special Counsel Mueller will appear before the House Intel and Judiciary Committees
- His testimony comes after a committee subpoena issued Tuesday night
- Comes as the White House has held back other key witnesses
- Mueller has resisted efforts to appear during weeks of negotiations.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before Congress for what is sure to be a blockbuster hearing – to be conducted in public.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerold Nadler released the information in a letter he posted on line. He says the testimony will occur July 17 and will take place in public.
The move follows what Nadler says was a subpoena to force his testimony. Mueller is now in private life, having left the Justice Department after overseeing a nearly two-year probe.
Robert Mueller will be testifying before Congress July 17
Democrats have been girding to ask him questions about the decision not to charge Trump with obstruction of justice but instead defer to internal guidelines against charging a sitting president with a crime.
Wrote Nadler: ‘I am pleased to announce that @HouseJudiciary and House Intel will have Special Counsel Robert Mueller testify in open session on July 17, pursuant to a subpoena issued this evening.’
‘We look forward to having Mr. Mueller testify, as do all Americans,’ he added.
House Judiciary Committee Jerold Nadler said Mueller agreed to talk after receiving a subpoena issued Tuesday night
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held off calls to begin impeachment proceedings
Nadler wrote: ‘Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack.
His announcement comes days after former Trump press secretary Hope Hicks testified before his committee in private – drawing criticism from some fellow Democrats who said the closed meeting deprived them of the ability to draw attention to what is in the report.
Mueller has resisted efforts to appear during weeks of negotiations. He delivered a brief statement to the press weeks after the release of the report – and after Attorney General Bill Barr released his own letter summarizing findings.
Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff of California have since tried to persuade Mueller to appear – even as the White House executed a strategy of holding back other potential key witnesses from testifying.
The public event may give the Democrats the best chance yet to shine a light on derogatory information contained within the Mueller report, which Trump has called a ‘complete exoneration.’
Mueller examined 10 different episodes of potential obstruction of justice – including efforts by Trump to get his attorney general to un-recuse himself and regain control of the Russia probe, push out Mueller himself, and get White House counsel Don McGahn to issue a statement that contradicted stating that Trump never tried to get him to fire Mueller.
Barr, who stated that the Mueller found no collusion had occurred and determined not to charge the president with obstruction, testified before the Senate but has yet to testify before the Demoratic-controlled House.
The White House counsel’s office has instructed multiple other witnesses, including McGahn, not to appear, while also holding back documents that Democrats say are critical to their own probes.