Democrats to focus on narrow set of episodes

WASHINGTON» Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee who will question former special counsel Robert Mueller next week plan to focus on a narrow set of episodes laid out in his report, an effort to direct Americans’ attention to what they see as the most egregious examples of President Donald Trump’s conduct.

The examples from the Mueller report include Trump’s directions to White House counsel Donald McGahn to have Mueller removed and, later, orders from Trump to McGahn to deny that happened. Democrats also will focus questioning on a series of meetings Trump had with former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in which the Republican president directed Lewandowski to persuade then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mueller’s investigation.

The House Judiciary and intelligence committees will question Mueller in back-toback hearings July 24. The testimony had been scheduled for July 17 but was delayed under a new deal struck with Mueller last week that would give him more time to prepare and give members more time for questioning. Still, time will be extremely limited, with an expected three hours for the Judiciary committee and two for the smaller intelligence committee. Some members on the Judiciary panel could have less than the regular five minutes for questioning.

So, to effectively highlight what they see as the most damaging parts of the report, Democratic lawmakers said Thursday that they will have to do something that members of Congress aren’t used to doing: limit the long speeches and cut to the chase.

“Members just need to focus,” said Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the intelligence panel.