Robert Mueller to Testify Before House Committees

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CreditCreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

June 25, 2019

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, will testify in public before Congress on July 17 about his investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, House Democrats announced on Tuesday night.

Coming nearly three months after the release of Mr. Mueller’s report, the back-to-back hearings before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees promise to be must-see television and hold the potential to reshape the political landscape around Mr. Trump’s presidency and a possible impeachment by the House.

Mr. Mueller, who has spoken publicly only once about his work, resisted taking the witness stand, where he will face questions both from Democrats eager to employ him to build a case against Mr. Trump and Republicans eager to vindicate the president’s innocence.

In the end, the two committees were forced to issue subpoenas compelling Mr. Mueller to appear.

The chairmen of the panels, Representatives Jerrold Nadler of New York and Adam B. Schiff of California, wrote in a letter to Mr. Mueller on Tuesday that they understood he had reservations about appearing on Capitol Hill, but they were insistent he do so, anyway.

“The American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions,” the chairmen wrote. “We will work with you to address legitimate concerns about preserving the integrity of your work, but we expect that you will appear before our committees as scheduled.”

The White House declined to comment Tuesday night.

Mr. Schiff told reporters shortly after the announcement that he expected his committee to meet privately with members of Mr. Mueller’s staff after his testimony to answer additional questions. As special counsel, Mr. Mueller employed a large team of prosecutors and F.B.I. agents whose detailed knowledge of the case could be as valuable to House investigators as Mr. Mueller’s public statements.

It was not immediately clear which committee Mr. Mueller would appear before first on July 17, though a copy of the subpoena issued by Mr. Nadler indicated that he was to show up before the Judiciary Committee at 9 a.m.

The committee leaders have been under intense pressure from Democratic activists and their own rank-and-file members alike to secure an appearance by Mr. Mueller. Both Mr. Nadler and Mr. Schiff initially invited the special counsel to testify voluntarily in April, but discussions proved thorny and protracted. Mr. Mueller and his team of prosecutors wanted to avoid a public spectacle, asked to limit his remarks to closed sessions with lawmakers and insisted that their 448-page report would best speak for itself.

As of now, it does not appear that Mr. Mueller will participate in a hearing before the Republican-controlled Senate, where lawmakers in the majority were less insistent he appear.

Republicans in the House, who continue to stress that Mr. Mueller did not recommend charging Mr. Trump with either conspiracy to aid the Russians or obstruction of justice, welcomed the news. They are likely to press Mr. Mueller not just on those bottom-line conclusions but also on the composition of his team — which Mr. Trump has dismissed as a group of “angry Democrats”— and what they argue are possible irregularities and government abuses around the origins of the F.B.I. Russia investigation that Mr. Mueller inherited.

“Thank God,” Representative Doug Collins of Georgia, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said in a brief interview on Tuesday night. “We’ve been asking for this for awhile.”

Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.

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