Mueller reluctantly agrees to testify
Trump goes on the attack, Democrats hope for best
Washington — Robert Mueller will head to Capitol Hill next month reluctantly, knowing he will be thrust instantly into the eye of a partisan storm.
Democrats will press the former special counsel to tell them more about President Donald Trump’s wrongdoing than was already detailed in his 448-page investigative report, while settling for a televised spectacle that presents Mueller’s findings to new swaths of voters.
Republicans will try to cast their political opponents as intent on impeaching the president and unwilling to let go of an investigation that ended months ago without charges against Trump, while some are likely attack Mueller for his team’s perceived missteps.
On Wednesday, not 24 hours after it was revealed that Mueller would testify publicly pursuant to a subpoena from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, Trump lashed out at the man who investigated him. He accused Mueller of a crime, alleging without evidence that the special counsel had deleted text messages of two anti-Trump FBI employees who worked on the case. As he has in the past, Trump deemed Mueller’s work a “hoax.”
“The Mueller thing never stops,” Trump said before leaving the White House for a trip to Japan. “There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing.”
The president’s comments foreshadowed what is expected to be rancorous hearings July 17, when Mueller — whose team interviewed nearly 500 people during the investigation — will become a witness himself, providing testimony that could shape the rest of the Trump presidency or the 2020 election.
“I think it will have a profound impact,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. “Just if he says what was in the report and says it to the American people so they hear it, that would be very, very important.”
A lawyer listed for Mueller on the subpoena did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment. Senior members of Mueller’s former investigative team did not return messages.
The appearance will be bifurcated, lawmakers said, with Mueller first testifying before Nadler’s committee, then moving to a second room for testimony before the Intelligence Committee. In total, Mueller is expected to speak publicly for about four hours.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said the first portion would have a two-hour limit; she hoped all members of the sizable committee would be able to ask questions.