The House Judiciary Committee is going to hold a series of hearings about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report even though the special counsel will not be present for any of them.
The Democrat-led committee is searching for any wrongdoing by President Donald Trump after Mueller’s report established no conspiracy or cooperation between Trump’s campaign and Russia, ripping apart the method Democrats sought to remove the president from office.
Mueller also probed potential obstruction but ultimately did not charge or recommend charging Trump with obstruction.
Chairs of multiple House committees, including House Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), have since been trying to obtain information about Trump from as far back as 2011, hoping to gain something they can use to fuel an impeachment push that is now attracting tepid support from the party as a whole, portraying the probing as a continuation of Muellers years-long investigation despite the lack of explosive findings.
Russia attacked our elections to help @realDonaldTrump win, Trump and his campaign welcomed this help and the President then tried to obstruct the investigation into the attack. Mueller confirmed these revelations and has now left Congress to pick up where he left off.
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) June 3, 2019
No one is above the law. While the @WhiteHouse continues to cover up and stonewall, and to prevent the American people from knowing the truth, we will continue to move forward with our investigation. #MuellerReport
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) June 3, 2019
“Russia attacked our elections to help President Trump win, Trump and his campaign welcomed this help, and the President then tried to obstruct the investigation into the attack. Mueller confirmed these revelations and has now left Congress to pick up where he left off,” Nadler said in a statement on June 3.
“No one is above the law. While the White House continues to cover up and stonewall, and to prevent the American people from knowing the truth, we will continue to move forward with our investigation. These hearings will allow us to examine the findings laid out in Mueller’s report so that we can work to protect the rule of law and protect future elections through consideration of legislative and other remedies.”
The first hearing will take place on June 10 and include former White House Counsel John Dean, in addition to former U.S. attorneys and legal experts, the committee said in a press release.
The committee previously tried to get Attorney General William Barr to appear and answer questions on May 2, but he declined, leading to the committee passing a resolution holding him in contempt. On May 20, former White House Counsel Don McGahn declined to appear before the committee.
The committee issued subpoenas for former White House communications director Hope Hicks and former chief of staff for McGahn, Annie Donaldson, on May 21. It wasn’t clear whether either or both would appear during the new round of hearings.
Nadler said previously that he was hoping Mueller would appear before the committee to answer questions about the report; instead, the special counsel read a written statement to reporters on May 29.
“There has been discussion about an appearance before Congress. Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself,” he said in part.
Mueller said he hoped to never speak about the report again in public. He said he was resigning from the Department of Justice to return to private life.
President Donald Trump, who has urged Democrats to focus on helping fix the country’s problems instead of continuing to investigate him, said that Mueller’s statement changed nothing. “Case is closed!” he added. “Thank you.”