Tag: Mueller Report

Trump renews Mueller attacks days before testimony

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday renewed his attacks on Robert Mueller, days before the former special counsel is set to testify about the Russia investigation during a highly anticipated congressional hearing.

In a pair of tweets, Trump repeated his claim that Mueller is “highly conflicted” and accused him of leading a “ridiculous Witch Hunt.” The president for more than two years has leveled both charges in an attempt to undermine Mueller’s credibility.

“Highly conflicted Robert Mueller should not be given another bite at the apple. In the end it will be bad for him and the phony Democrats in Congress who have done nothing but waste time on this ridiculous Witch Hunt,” Trump tweeted.

View the complete July 22 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Mueller testimony likely to be delayed for one week

The Hill logoFormer special counsel Robert Mueller’s public testimony before Congress is likely to be postponed until July 24, multiple sources familiar with the matter told The Hill. 

The House Judiciary Committee is negotiating for lawmakers to have more time to question Mueller about his investigation into Russian interference and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump, the sources said. They cautioned that the situation is fluid and is pending a final agreement by the Democrats on his appearance.

Mueller was initially scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on Wednesday. The initial agreement was for Mueller to testify at two consecutive hearings before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, with his testimony limited to about two hours before each committee. Under the agreement, 22 lawmakers would be able to ask questions.  

View the complete July 12 article by Olivia Beavers and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

‘The enigma of the entire Mueller probe’: Focus on origins of Russian investigation puts spotlight on Maltese professor

Washington Post logoShortly after Joseph Mifsud’s efforts to help connect a Trump adviser with the Kremlin were detailed in court filings, an Italian reporter found him at a university in Rome, where he was serving as a visiting professor.

“I never got any money from the Russians: my conscience is clear,” Mifsud told La Repubblica. “I am not a secret agent.”

Then Mifsud disappeared.

View the complete June 30 article by Rosalind S. Helderman, Shane Harris and Ellen Nakashima on The Washington Post website here.

Weeks of Talks Led a Reluctant Mueller to Testify

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The agreement for Robert S. Mueller III to testify on Capitol Hill materialized after weeks of phone calls and meetings between House Democratic staff and associates of Mr. Mueller, who made clear his reluctance to enter the political war surrounding his investigation.

His intermediaries repeatedly delivered a message that Mr. Mueller, then the special counsel, conveyed last month in a rare public appearance: A prosecutor speaks through his indictments and the written word rather than the public spectacle of a congressional hearing. Mr. Mueller was so averse to being pulled into the political arena that he never spoke directly with lawmakers or their aides, according to a senior congressional official involved in the talks and others briefed on them.

His reticence mattered little in the end. Democrats were insistent that he had a responsibility to testify, though they agreed to combine questioning from two panels on one day. The protracted negotiations came to an abrupt stop late on Tuesday night when representatives for Mr. Mueller agreed that he would show up if the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees issued subpoenas for an appearance on July 17.

View the complete June 26 article by Nicholas Fandos and Eileen Sullivan on The Washington Post website here.

Robert Mueller agrees to publicly testify to Congress

Axios logoFormer special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify publicly before the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees pursuant to a subpoena on July 17, Chairmen Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced Tuesday evening. The testimonies will be “back to back,” but separate, according to Schiff.

Why it matters: Mueller previously said he preferred not to testify and that his 400-page report would function as his testimony. After weeks of negotiations between the former special counsel’s team and House Democrats, a subpoena is what ultimately broke the deadlock.

“Pursuant to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tonight, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before both Committees on July 17 in open session.

View the complete June 25 article by Rebecca Falconer and Zachaery Basu on the Axios website here.

The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts

The Investigation was written by Robert Schenkkan, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning screenwriter and playwright, and the live cast includes Annette Bening, Kevin Kline, John Lithgow, Frederick Weller, Ben Mckenzie, Michael Shannon, Noah Emmerich, Justin Long, Jason Alexander, Gina Gershon, Wilson Cruz, Joel Grey, Alyssa Milano, Kyra Sedgwick, Alfre Woodard, Piper Perabo, Zachary Quinto, and Aidan Quinn, with additional participation by Sigourney Weaver, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mark Hamill and more.

Trump says McGahn ‘may have been confused’ when he said Trump directed him to pursue Mueller’s firing

President Trump said in an interview broadcast Friday that former White House counsel Donald McGahn “may have been confused” when he told investigators that Trump had directed him to pursue the firing of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III amid his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

During the interview with ABC News, Trump issued a fresh denial of an episode detailed in Mueller’s report that House Democrats have seized upon as they examine whether Trump sought to obstruct Mueller’s probe and should be impeached.

“I don’t care what he says. It doesn’t matter,” Trump said of McGahn in the interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I was never going to fire Mueller. I never suggested firing Mueller.”

View the complete June 14 article by John Wagner on The Washington Post website here.

John Dean’s compelling case for parallels between Trump and Watergate

The star witness of Watergate took a turn as the star witness for House Democrats’ inquiries into President Trump on Monday. And in doing so, he laid out a compelling series of parallels between the two situations.

Former White House counsel John Dean acknowledged at the start of Monday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing that he wasn’t there as a “fact witness.” Instead, he noted in his opening statement several ways in which he sees the report of former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III echoing Watergate.

Dean didn’t run through each of those verbally during his testimony, but his written statement lays his case out in detail.

View the complete June 10 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Key House panel faces pivotal week on Trump

The House Judiciary Committee, which would consider articles of impeachment against President Trump if that process moves forward, is set for a pivotal week.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the panel’s chairman, has jostled for weeks with the administration to secure more documents and witness testimony — including that of special counsel Robert Mueller — to guide probes into Russian election interference and allegations that Trump obstructed Mueller’s investigation.

But the efforts have come up largely empty in the face of the administration’s near-blanket refusal to honor those requests, leading to confrontations about holding administration officials for contempt and raising the pressure on Democratic leaders to consider impeachment.

View the complete June 3 article by Mike Lillis and Scott Wong on The Hill website here.

Former federal prosecutor: Here’s the giant hole in the Mueller report — and why it means the special counsel must testify

In his May 29 televised statement, special counsel Robert Mueller told us that everything he had to say was contained in his written report, and that it contained everything that Congress and the public needed to know about his investigation. This, however, is incorrect in several material respects, and the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees should insist that he appear before them to answer extremely urgent questions.

The Mueller report is completely silent on the results of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation that was opened up shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. The next day, Trump then confided to Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador to the U.S. the following day in the Oval Office that — referring to the FBI’s Russia investigation — the firing of “nut job” Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him. Trump then followed this confirmation by admitting to NBC’s Lester Holt in a televised interview at the White House that he had decided to fire Comey because of the “Russia thing.” Continue reading “Former federal prosecutor: Here’s the giant hole in the Mueller report — and why it means the special counsel must testify”