The Mueller Report

Mueller, Uncut: Democrats Call on Special Counsel to Explain Himself

“We cannot take Attorney General Barr’s word for it,“ Rep. Jerry Nadler says in a letter inviting Mueller to testify “no later” than May 23.
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Just minutes after Attorney General William Barr delivered a press conference pre-spinning the Mueller report, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler has formally requested that Robert Mueller himself appear before the House next month to testify. “It is clear Congress and the American people must hear from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in person to better understand his findings,” he stated in a tweet, including his letter to the special counsel asking him to appear “no later” than May 23. “We cannot take Attorney General Barr’s word for it,” he tweeted shortly after. “We must read the full Mueller report, and the underlying evidence. This is about transparency and ensuring accountability.”

The first public appearance by the special counsel is likely to be an explosive political event. Although Barr said in his press conference that he would have no objection to Mueller speaking publicly, the attorney general appears to have reached substantively different conclusions from Mueller about whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice. Mueller’s full report details 10 episodes that could be interpreted as part of a case for obstruction of justice. Barr, however, said he disagreed with some of Mueller’s legal theories regarding obstruction. Ultimately, he decided not to charge the president, reasoning that if Trump had not committed an underlying crime—such as illegally coordinating with Russian efforts to disrupt the election—he could not be said to have obstructed the Mueller investigation, either.

Democrats were already suspicious of Barr’s intentions, thanks to his decision to release a four-page summary of the roughly 400-page Mueller report, and only grew more inflamed after multiple news outlets reported that he had summarized a report and substantially ignored key findings at least one other time before this, and that Justice Department officials had discussed the Mueller report’s findings with White House lawyers days before it was publicly released. Barr’s conference, scheduled shortly before the report went public and seemingly geared toward assuaging Trump’s ego, was the final straw. “Attorney General Barr’s regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller report . . . [has] resulted in a crisis of confidence in his independence and impartiality,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a joint statement calling for Mueller to appear before the House and Senate. “The American people deserve to hear the truth.”

Mueller’s testimony could be significant as Democrats weigh whether to initiate impeachment proceedings. While Democratic leadership has indicated that they are unlikely to do so, in his 448-page report, Mueller specifically left questions about obstruction of justice to Congress. “In the rare case in which a criminal investigation of the president’s conduct is justified, inquiries to determine whether the president acted for a corrupt motive should not impermissibly chill his performance of his constitutionally assigned duties,” he wrote. “The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.” A public hearing featuring the special counsel might clarify whether Democrats are prepared to take that extraordinary next step.

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