Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Tuesday called for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify publicly about his Russia investigation in front of Congress.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have been pushing Mueller to appear at a public hearing, but the special counsel’s hesitant to do so for fear of looking political.
“I understand that Mr. Mueller doesn’t want it to become a media circus if he decides to testify, but the American public has a right to hear directly from him,” Kennedy said in a statement. “His investigation cost the American taxpayers more than $25 million. They don’t want a filtered version of his testimony spun by members of Congress with partisan agendas.”
Kennedy, who sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that people should hear Mueller’s “full testimony and draw their own conclusions.”
Senate Judiciary chair Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in early May that he was open to letting Mueller testify, but only for the special counsel to discuss whether Attorney General Bill Barr mischaracterized a phone call between them.
House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said last week that Mueller wanted to testify in front of the committee privately and only give his opening statement publicly.
We’re going to need a new drinking game.
Money quote right there! Amash was only the beginning. Reality is starting to seep into the awareness of a growing number of Congressional Republicans. They’re realizing their careers as public servants depend on it.
And those who are already considered odd ducks are the only ones, yet, ready to say this outloud.
Interesting thing for him to say on the same day this came out …
"Mueller drew up obstruction indictment against Trump, Michael Wolff book says"
The Guardian indicates it has reviewed documents. I certainly can’t vouch for authenticity. Mueller spokesperson denies.
Michael Wolff has a new scoop out from his upcoming book saying that Mueller did draft an indictment of Trump on obstruction but didn’t ultimately go there. If you put 2 + 2 together it would suggest that Mueller was turned down by Rosenstein based on the OLC memo. Peter Carr, the OSC spokesman, has denied it and has said ‘the documents do not exist’. Oh really? Did they exist at one time but are now shredded? Did Mueller never draft but had a discussion w/Rosenstein on the matter, expressed his views in favor of impeachment and was rebuffed? Or, did the topic or idea never come up? Given that Mueller centers his decision to punt to Congress on the OLC memo, it’s inconceivable to me that it didn’t come up with Rosenstein and later Barr. So, I think Wolff has the broad outlines of the story right and Carr is doing his now typical lying by parsing.
This is one of the reasons why Mueller may want to testify at least partially in private. I think Mueller should testify multiple times and Nadler should inform him as such. If Mueller acknowledges that he will come whenever called, Nadler could agree to a public opening statement and private questioning provided that public opening statement actually says something informative and doesn’t include 15 hedges. We expect the truth.