Former special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify in public about his two-year Russia investigation at a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee on July 17. The announcement came from the chairmen of the two panels, who issued a subpoena compelling his testimony.
In a news release issued late Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chairmen Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that Mueller had agreed to testify next month.
“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,” the chairmen said in a statement.
“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel,” the statement said, “so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack.”
The chairmen suggested in a letter to Mueller on Tuesday accompanying the subpoena that they understand that Mueller may limit what he plans to share with lawmakers, with Schiff and Nadler writing that they know “there are certain sensitivities associated with your open testimony.”
Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race
WATCH: Mike Lee explodes on voting error that ‘keeps happening’ as huge number of noncitizens found on rolls
UMass Dartmouth football murder suspect overstayed tourist visa, received deferred action: federal sources
Pittsburgh doctor stabbed to death after intruder allegedly attacks him, wife as they slept: police
New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill calls on lieutenant governor to resign after sexual harassment investigation
FBI says source of its jobs portal breach still unknown as hackers allege employee data compromised
Mamdani-backed socialist arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest outside UN
Michigan nurse accused of breaking bones and bruising premature infant at children’s hospital
Xi can’t escape protesters’ cries at deafening dinner demonstration
College Basketball Coach-Turned ESPN Personality Dies at 47
Watch: Xi Descends Into Laughter as Trump Shows off ‘President Autopen’ Picture in Place of Joe Biden’s Portrait
Corie Walsh’s husband faces alleged killer mom accused of plotting to poison him as attorney lays blame
Talarico, Buoyed by Strong Gen Z Support, Leads Paxton Outside Margin of Error in New Poll
Sheridan Gorman’s mom scorches Dem lawmakers she says refused to hear families of slain Americans
DOJ announces $25 million ANGEL grant program as it hosts violent crime victims
“In particular, the Special Counsel’s Office referred several criminal investigations to other offices at the Department of Justice, and certain matters are ongoing. Your office, moreover, admirably limited public comment while the Special Counsel’s Office’s work was ongoing. You have also explained that you prefer for the Special Counsel’s Office’s written work to speak for itself,” they wrote.
Mueller did not want to testify, but will respect the subpoena to testify in open session, Schiff said on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Tuesday night on MSNBC. Mueller’s staff will speak to the committees in a closed session after Mueller’s public testimony.
“Clearly this is something, I think from his perspective as prosecutor, he is reluctant to come, as a prosecutor normally would be,” Schiff said. “But as Bob Mueller was the first to point out in his own report, he did not make a traditional prosecutorial judgement.”
Congress did not feel it sufficient to rely only a written report without the ability to ask follow-up questions, Schiff said, and believed that it was appropriate for the House to flesh out questions, Schiff said.
“It seemed like such an obvious step, from my own point of view, if you’re going accept the role as special counsel in one of the most significant investigations in modern history, you’re going to have to expect that you’re going to be asked to come to testify before Congress,” Schiff said.
Donalds rips opponent’s ‘complete 180’ as Dem’s own 2016 words come back to haunt him in tightening gov race
WATCH: Mike Lee explodes on voting error that ‘keeps happening’ as huge number of noncitizens found on rolls
UMass Dartmouth football murder suspect overstayed tourist visa, received deferred action: federal sources
Pittsburgh doctor stabbed to death after intruder allegedly attacks him, wife as they slept: police
New Jersey Gov Mikie Sherrill calls on lieutenant governor to resign after sexual harassment investigation
FBI says source of its jobs portal breach still unknown as hackers allege employee data compromised
Mamdani-backed socialist arrested at anti-Netanyahu protest outside UN
Michigan nurse accused of breaking bones and bruising premature infant at children’s hospital
Xi can’t escape protesters’ cries at deafening dinner demonstration
College Basketball Coach-Turned ESPN Personality Dies at 47
Watch: Xi Descends Into Laughter as Trump Shows off ‘President Autopen’ Picture in Place of Joe Biden’s Portrait
Corie Walsh’s husband faces alleged killer mom accused of plotting to poison him as attorney lays blame
Talarico, Buoyed by Strong Gen Z Support, Leads Paxton Outside Margin of Error in New Poll
Sheridan Gorman’s mom scorches Dem lawmakers she says refused to hear families of slain Americans
DOJ announces $25 million ANGEL grant program as it hosts violent crime victims
Earlier this month, Nadler said he was “confident” that Mueller would eventually testify before Congress. Ever since the 448-page redacted report was released in April, lawmakers had been in talks with Mueller so that he could testify before Congress publicly. When Mueller spoke publicly for the first time about the Russia investigation in late May, he indicated that he did not want to testify before Congress. “I hope and expect that this is the only time that I will speak to you in this manner,” he said then.
