Former special counsel will be limited in his highly anticipated testimony
The Department of Justice has instructed ormer special counsel Robert Mueller to limit his highly anticipated congressional testimony to his 448-page report, according to the letter sent on Monday.
Mueller was subpoenaed in June to appear before Congress to address the details of his investigation which already concluded that the Trump administration did not collude with Russia int the 2016 election.
The DOJ even agreed that Mueller’s testimony is mostly unnecessary, but nevertheless instructed him to keep what is already in the public domain.
The DOJ views any evidence collected by Mueller throughout his investigation as ‘privileged,’ therefore off-limits to anyone raising questions in the hearing.
The letter stated:
“Any testimony must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege, including information protected by law enforcement.
“Department witnesses should decline to address potentially privileged matters.”
But the letter could spell problems for those who want to ask Mueller how the Russia investigation started.
Here is the DOJ’s letter to Robert Mueller about his Congressional testimony this week. pic.twitter.com/S5BY3FjN0U
— Christina Ginn (@NBChristinaGinn) July 22, 2019
President Donald Trump warned Robert Mueller should not be “given another bite at the apple”
READ MORE: https://t.co/E7kxjjeVdj— Neon Nettle (@NeonNettle) July 22, 2019
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee were planning to question Mueller about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, political biases of the investigative team, and British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier.
The Republicans will also interrogate Mueller about the conclusions he reached on obstruction and conspiracy.
But the DOJ may have thrown a monkey wrench into the works.
Mueller’s report concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election but said there was no conspiracy between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
Mueller listed 11 potential instances of obstruction of justice but didn’t specify what they were.