Robert Mueller, the former special counsel who investigated Russia’s role in the 2016 US presidential election, has agreed to testify before Congress on July 17 in response to a subpoena, House Democrats said on Tuesday evening.
The appearance by Mr Mueller before two congressional committees will mark only the second time that he has spoken publicly about his investigation into possible links between Donald Trump’s election campaign and Russia, as well as potential obstruction by the US president.
Last month, Mr Mueller discussed his findings at a brief press conference and said he hoped it would be the last time he would speak publicly about the investigation. The former FBI director warned that he would not go beyond his written report in any congressional testimony.
However, Democrats have been keen to secure his appearance in the belief that any televised comments will have greater political impact than the 448-page tome Mr Mueller submitted in March at the end of his almost two-year investigation.
Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House of Representatives judiciary committee, and Adam Schiff, who chairs the House intelligence committee, acknowledged Mr Mueller’s reluctance to testify in a letter sent to him on Tuesday.
“The American public deserves to hear directly from you about your investigation and conclusions. 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 Democrats said.
Mr Mueller said in his report that he had not found sufficient evidence to establish a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. He did not decide whether Mr Trump attempted to obstruct justice, pointing to a Department of Justice policy that prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.
The findings allowed Mr Trump to claim vindication on the question of whether he worked with the Russian government to win election in 2016. But it also provided ammunition to the president’s critics in the section of the report that dealt with whether Mr Trump tried to obstruct justice.
In the report and his comments last month, Mr Mueller pointedly noted that he had not cleared Mr Trump on the question of obstruction. “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that,” he said at the press conference.
The hearing next month will be the first time Mr Mueller will face questions about his findings and the decisions he made during the investigation. It will come as Democrats weigh whether to pursue the impeachment of Mr Trump, with the party establishment warning that the public does not support such a move and advocates pointing to Mr Mueller’s report as evidence enough to impeach the president.
Mr Mueller will appear before the committees with more experience than most congressional witnesses, having testified repeatedly during his 12 years as FBI director. In May, he indicated that any testimony would probably disappoint those expecting him to veer off script and reveal new details not already disclosed in his report.
“The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress,” he said.
Jonathan Yarowsky, a partner at Mr Mueller’s former law firm WilmerHale who was listed on the congressional subpoena, did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday evening.
Doug Collins, the ranking Republican member on the House judiciary committee, said he hoped Mr Mueller’s appearance would “bring to House Democrats that closure that the rest of America has enjoyed for months”.
