Special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE is tentatively set to testify about his 448-page report before House Judiciary Committee on May 15. The report, of course, details his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE violated criminal obstruction of justice laws. ADVERTISEMENT So, what should the public watch for in Mueller’s testimony? Here are four things that Congress needs to ask Mueller: 1. Mueller should set the record straight for the American public on Russian interference in our elections. Mueller, of course, will stand with our national security experts — not Russian President Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinBiden defends waiving sanctions against Nord Stream The Hill's 12:30 Report: Greene faces backlash over Holocaust comment Biden to meet with Putin next month MORE — on how Russia attacked our electoral process. This will stand in stark contrast to Trump, who recently spent an hour on the phone with Putin kvetching about what he calls the “Russian hoax.” “Hoax” could not be further from the truth. What Russia has done and will do again amounts to an attack on the United States, which our commander-in-chief should fight against, not outright deny. Congress should ask Mueller for his views on the nature and severity of the threat going forward, and what is — and is not — being done about it. Mueller was FBI director for over a decade, after all, and knows his stuff. He might not opine on the ongoing threat publicly, but the question is a vital one for the integrity of our country’s electoral process. 2. Mueller needs to clear up why he declined to make a call on whether the evidence of obstruction by the president rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Barr testified that Mueller reassured him that Mueller’s equivocation had nothing to do with the DOJ policy against indicting a sitting president. The Mueller report suggests the very opposite — that he declined to give a thumbs-up to obstruction charges because the DOJ policy made it impossible for the president to defend himself against such charges in court. If Trump can’t be indicted, he can’t wage a defense on the facts. This disparity between Barr and Mueller needs to be cleared up. Mueller might also be asked to clarify why he wrote that the report did not “exonerate” Trump, because there is a lot of potential evidence of obstruction in there. 3. It would help the public if Mueller underscored the statement in his report that he did not reach a decision on “collusion” — because collusion is not even a legal term. Barr has collapsed the term “collusion” with the legal concept of conspiracy. This legal slip-up amounted to attorney general malpractice. Legal terms denoting crimes have precise meanings for a reason: The government bears the burden of proving the elements making up a crime beyond a reasonable doubt in court. ADVERTISEMENT Collusion is just a word. People can collude without conspiring. There is nothing in the report that “exonerates” Trump of the colloquial term, collusion. Congress has the constitutional prerogative to further investigate that issue, although it might come to no consequence other than informing the public that the threat of Russian attacks on the electoral process remains real. 4. Congress should ask Mueller for his views on whether the special counsel regulations need amending, and whether Congress should pass legislation protecting the process — as it did post-Watergate. For those who critique the very propriety of the House of Representatives’ inquiries, the Constitution itself has the answer. A line of questioning regarding DOJ’s process for investigating presidents is central to Congress’s own authority to investigate. The U.S. Supreme Court has linked this to Congress’s express constitutional power to legislate under Article I of the Constitution. In today’s black-and-white world, Mueller can highlight the sobering shades of gray that continue to shade Trump, Russia and the question of obstruction of justice. Despite Barr’s unfortunate talk of Mueller team snittiness, Mueller himself remains an impeccably credentialed and independent “rule-of-law” guy. He is an old school Republican who cares about the institution of the administration of justice in the United States. Hopefully, his testimony can remind us all that facts and law — not ideology and power — can still carry the day. Kim Wehle is a former assistant U.S. attorney and a former associate independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation. Wehle is a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Her book, “How to Read the Constitution and—Why,” will be published in June. Follow her on Twitter @kim_wehle.<doc-sep>A member of the House Judiciary Committee walked back comments made earlier Sunday that a “tentative date” of May 15 has been reached for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the panel, cautioning that nothing has been agreed to yet. “We think the American people have a right to hear directly from him,” Rep. David Cicilline told “Fox News Sunday.” Host Chris Wallace asked the Rhode Island Democrat if Mueller has agreed to that date. “Well, I think counsel for the special – or the representative of the special counsel has – but obviously, until the day comes, we never have an absolute guarantee,” Cicilline said. “The White House has so far indicated they would not interfere with Mr. Mueller’s attempts to testify, we hope that won’t change,” he added. Shortly afterward, Cicilline clarified his remarks. “Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion,” he wrote on Twitter. Democrats have wanted Mueller to appear before the committee after they accused Attorney General William Barr of mischaracterizing the conclusions of the special counsel’s report during testimony last week in the Senate. Barr refused to appear before the judiciary committee last Thursday, and the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, has threatened to cite the attorney general with contempt unless he released a full, unredacted version of the Mueller report. Nadler set a 9 a.m. Monday deadline.<doc-sep>Trump’s Sunday tweet marks a shift from what he said Friday during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Asked then whether Mueller should testify before Congress and whether he would like to see the special counsel do so, Trump replied, “I don’t know. That’s up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.”<doc-sep>Dana Bash: This is so telling about where the Republican party is NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 24: Trump Tower stands on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on August 24, 2018 in New York City. Following new allegations over hush money that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paid to an adult-film actress, the Manhattan district attorneyÕs office in New York City may seek criminal charges against the Trump Organization in the coming days. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Why GOP is standing in the way of Capitol riot investigation WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 08: US Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) remarks on the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the US Capitol November 8, 2006 in Washington, DC. Warner said he supports President George W. Bush's nomination of former CIA Director Robert Gates for Secretary of Defense. Warner said he anticipates Gates' confirmation before the end of the year. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), joined by Senate Assistant Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD) (L) and Senate Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), speaks following a Senate Republican Policy luncheon at the Russell Senate Office Building on May 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. Barr gave his version of the report. Then we read it. (CNN) — President Donald Trump on Sunday reversed course, saying special counsel Robert Mueller should not testify before Congress just two days after telling reporters the attorney general should make that decision. In a pair of tweets, Trump said the special counsel should not appear before the House Judiciary Committee and questioned why the Democratically-controlled committee would need Mueller’s testimony after concluding his two-year investigation into allegations of collusion between Russian operatives and Trump associates during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition. “Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion? There was no crime, except on the other side (incredibly not covered in the Report), and NO OBSTRUCTION,” he wrote, adding, “No redos for the Dems!” On Friday, however, the President – when asked by reporters at the White House about Mueller potentially testifying – said Attorney General William Barr should determine whether or not Mueller would provide congressional testimony, saying: “I don’t know. That’s up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.” Trump’s Sunday tweet came hours after House Judiciary member David Cicilline told “Fox News Sunday” that the committee has reached a “tentative date” of May 15 for Mueller to testify, though he later clarified that the date for Mueller’s appearance had not yet been finalized. “Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet,” the Rhode Island Democrat tweeted later Sunday. “That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion.” Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion. https://t.co/FfR8ReLmkp — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) May 5, 2019 In his interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Cicilline said the agreement was still tentative because “the representative for the Special Counsel has” signed off, “but obviously until the day comes, we never have an absolute guarantee.” He added, “The White House has so far indicated they would not interfere with Mr. Mueller’s attempts to testify.” Mueller’s appearance before the committee would allow lawmakers to hear from the special counsel on the investigation he spearheaded. The Department of Justice released a redacted version of the special counsel’s long awaited findings last month. Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, declined to comment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer picked up on the misstatement by Cicilline at a news conference Sunday saying, “I heard this morning that Mueller is testifying on the 15th. I think it’s imperative for Mueller to testify. I think the only restraints on what he says is what he thinks he can’t say, no one else should impose restraints. We ought to hear the full testimony from Mueller. Given the fact that Barr does not seem to be a neutral observer here, Mueller’s testimony is all the more important. ” Schumer said that he hopes Barr will hand over the full Mueller report to Congress. “I hope he does,” he said. “I mean, it would be very good to avoid any kind of constitutional clash and have him turn over the report. That’s the right thing to do.” House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said last week that May 15 was the committee’s target date for Mueller to testify, but it has not yet been finalized. Democrats have been working to hear directly from Mueller after Barr came under fire for mischaracterizing parts of the Mueller report, and a letter from Mueller to the attorney general surfaced late last week suggesting Barr didn’t fully capture the nuance of his 448-page report. Mueller and Barr later spoke on the phone, Justice Department officials told CNN, with the special counsel asserting that while Barr’s letter to Congress summarizing the report was not wrong, it did not characterize the issue of potential obstruction of justice as effectively as the report. The attorney general later called the letter from Mueller “a bit snitty” while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Barr also appeared to support Mueller testifying before Congress during his Senate questioning. He hinted at a Mueller appearance when asked by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar whether the special counsel reviewed the President’s tax returns or Trump Organization financial statements, saying he didn’t know but could find the answer. “Or you could ask Bob Mueller when he comes here,” Barr added. This story has been updated. CNN’s Julie Gallagher and Sarah Westwood contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said on Sunday that a tentative date of May 15 has been set for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to appear before the House Judiciary Committee and face questioning over his report on Russian interference in 2016 election. Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” the Rhode Island lawmaker said that while there is no guarantee that Mueller will show up to the hearing, he heard nothing from either Mueller’s representatives or the White House to indicate that the special counsel would not testify. “We think the American people have a right to hear directly from him,” Cicilline said. WILL MUELLER TESTIFY? HOUSE DEMS IN TALKS FOR HEARING WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL, SOURCE CONFIRMS “Obviously, until the date comes, we never have an absolute guarantee,” he added in response to a question of whether or not Mueller will show up. “The White House has so far indicated they would not interfere with Mr. Mueller's attempt to testify; we hope that won't change.” During a brief Oval Office session with reporters Friday, President Trump deferred to Attorney General William Barr, saying, "I don't know. That's up to the attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job." On Sunday, however, the president struck a different tone on Twitter - questioning why Democrats wanted Mueller to testify and stating again that there was "No collusion" between his campaign in 2016 and Russia. He also wrote, "Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!" It's possible that Barr could block Mueller from appearing, since the special counsel is still a Justice Department employee. But Barr has said he has no objection to Mueller testifying. House Democrats are eagerly seeking for Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said last week the committee was "firming up the date" for Mueller's testimony and hoping it would be May 15. Nadler also gave Barr a Monday deadline to comply with a subpoena demanding an unredacted version of Mueller's report, along with its underlying evidence, or face a contempt charge. Barr could face another subpoena to appear before Nadler's committee after skipping a hearing Thursday in a dispute over the rules for questioning him. Nadler also has subpoenaed testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn. "The committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the department," Nadler wrote to Barr. "But if the department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena, the committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The calls for Mueller to testify grew following Barr’s testimony last Wednesday before the Senate. Barr testified Wednesday that Mueller didn't challenge the accuracy of his memo summarizing the principal conclusions of the special counsel's report, including when they spoke on the phone. Barr made that assertion despite a letter he received in March from Mueller complaining Barr's summary didn't fully capture the "context, nature and substance" of his nearly 400-page report. The feud with Barr has animated Democrats and temporarily shifted attention away from impeachment — and by extension, the party's divisions over whether to pursue it. But with Trump resisting other congressional investigations, and testimony from Mueller likely on the horizon, the impeachment question seems unlikely to subside for long. The Associated Press contributed to this report.