Robert Mueller won’t appear before Congress next week, but Jerry Nadler assures us it will happen eventually, thus making Trump panic even more. Expect more distractions.
The president stewed for days about the prospect of the media coverage that would be given to Mueller, a man Trump believes has been unfairly lionized across cable news and the front pages of the nation’s leading newspapers for two years, according to three White House officials and Republicans close to the White House.
Trump feared a repeat — but bigger — of the February testimony of his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, which dominated news coverage and even overshadowed a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.
Trump has long known the power of televised images and feared that Americans would be captivated by seeing — and hearing — Mueller, who has not spoken publicly since being named special counsel.
While Mueller is a Justice Department employee, the department would generally handle requests for him to appear before Congress, and the Justice Department could delay or block Mueller from voluntarily appearing. Congress could issue a subpoena to compel him to appear before the committee.
It isn’t clear what grounds the Justice Department would use to justify an attempt to block Mueller’s testimony.
As a private citizen, Mueller could decide whether to accept an invitation to appear or, if he declines, whether to attempt to resist any effort to subpoena him.
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Nadler did not give a specific reason for why Mueller would not testify next week, telling reporters it “just hasn’t developed.”
“He will come at some point. If it’s necessary, we will subpoena him and he will come,” Nadler said later.
The Judiciary Committee chairman declined to characterize negotiations over the special counsel’s testimony. Nadler said he hoped the committee would not need to resort to subpoenaing Mueller, but did not rule it out.
Democrats originally sought to have Mueller testify on May 15.