GOP plans to take it to Mueller

Leader speaks of effort to counterbalance ‘one-sided’ report

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are pledging tough questioning of special counsel Robert Mueller when he testifies before Congress this week.

Democrats hope to air evidence of wrongdoing by President Donald Trump in a potentially last-ditch bid to impeach him.

Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said that the American public is growing weary of the Russia investigation three months after the release of the special counsel’s 448page report and that “any thought of impeachment is waning.” He said Republicans will be focused on making clear that the report represents a “final episode” in the Russia probe, which he described as flawed.

“Remember, the Mueller report is a one-sided report,” Collins said. “It has not been questioned from the other side. This is our chance to do that.”

Days before back-to-back hearings Wednesday, both sides seemed to agree that Mueller’s testimony could be pivotal in shifting public opinion.

“This is a president who has violated the law six ways from Sunday,” said New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Collins, meanwhile, said Republicans will focus in part on the origins of the Russia investigation, which Trump has long derided as a political “witch hunt,” as well as evidence they see of potential bias in the FBI’S handling of the probe.

“There’s going to be a lot of questions for what he did say, what he didn’t say and how this thing started,” he said, referring to Mueller. “This is the time that the Democrats have got to show on their end how much time they have been wasting of our committee and how we have not been getting things done because they simply don’t like this president, who was elected by the people in 2016. And they’re just trying to derail him for 2020.”