Special Counsel Robert Mueller made it clear that he does not want to testify in front of Congress during his controversial press conference this morning, claiming that all he has to say is contained within the text of his report.
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) doesn’t care what Mueller wants to do.
Congressman Schiff took to Twitter in the wake of Mueller’s first public statement on the investigation that he spent over two years conducting and essentially told the special counsel that Congress would ignore his desire to have the written report be the sole summation of his findings.
He also picked up the gauntlet that Mueller threw down for Congress to complete the work begun in the special counsel’s report in seeing that justice is served and that everyone who has violated the law is held accountable — despite the Justice Department’s legal opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
Mueller confirmed today that Russia engaged in multiple systematic efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
In a rebuke of Barr, he also made clear that because of DOJ policy it is left to Congress—not the Attorney General—to evaluate the president’s misconduct.
And we will. pic.twitter.com/FAYSQxFbHp
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) May 29, 2019
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With Schiff and his colleagues on the House Intelligence committee still yet to see the unredacted version of the Mueller report, many questions remain about the missing details of the counterintelligence findings that the first volume of the report focuses upon.
With his statement that “We look forward to Mueller’s testimony before Congress,” Rep. Schiff is making it clear to the special counsel that his duty to let the American people know all of the details of the ties between the Trump campaign and foreign governments will require his testimony despite his personal wishes.
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“While I understand his reluctance to answer or deviate from the carefully worded conclusions he drew on his charging decisions, there are, nevertheless, a great many questions he can answer that go beyond the report, including any counterintelligence issues and classified matters that were not addressed in his findings.” Schiff writes.
“The Congress has a constitutional duty to hold the president accountable and ensure that our democratic system is not influenced or attacked by foreign adversaries. We will continue to do both because no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States,” the congressman concludes.
With the Democrats in the majority in the House, their subpoena power allows them to compel Robert Mueller to testify. Whether Mueller’s respect for the rule of law will mean that he will comply with any potential subpoena is the big question now.
If he does not comply, however, he will be as complicit in obstruction of justice as Trump himself.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
