House Judiciary Committee calls on Robert Mueller to testify
- Zachary Basu, author of Axios Sneak Peek
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler joined ranking member Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) in calling for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the committee after Congress receives his full report and hears from Attorney General William Barr.
"Today, Ranking Member Collins called for Special Counsel Mueller to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. I fully agree. Special Counsel Mueller should come before the Committee to answer questions in public about his 22 month investigation into President Trump and his associates. In order to ask Special Counsel Mueller the right questions, the Committee must receive the Special Counsel’s full report and hear from Attorney General Barr about that report on May 2. We look forward to hearing from Mr. Mueller at the appropriate time."
The backdrop: Earlier on Monday, Collins published a letter criticizing Democrats' attempts to subpoena the unredacted report, writing on Twitter: "Democrats can cite no precedent for their demands for grand jury information from the #MuellerReport, but there’s a solution we should all be able to agree on: The Judiciary Committee should invite the Special Counsel to testify immediately."
- Collins said that Mueller should testify the week of April 22. The House is expected to be on recess that week, but Collins wrote: "I think we can agree this business is too important to wait, and Members of the Committee will surely return to Washington at such a critical moment in our country's history."
The big picture: Barr, who is currently working with Mueller to redact the 400-page report, has agreed to testify before the committee on May 2, though Democrats have called on him to appear sooner. Mueller has not made any public statements about the report or his plans to testify, but a public appearance before Congress would be a must-watch political spectacle for those who have closely followed the 2-year investigation.
Go deeper: House Judiciary Committee authorizes subpoena for full Mueller report