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From:The Washington Post <email@washingtonpost.com> To:< Subject: The Daily 202: Five things to watch when Bob Mueller testifies Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2019 13:28:11 +0000 It you're having trouble reading this, click here. The Daily 202 Share: a liS Listen to The Big Idea Five things to watch when Bob Mueller testifies 'The report is my testimony': Mueller would not provide Congress new information BYLINE TEXT BY JAMES HOHMANN with Joanie Greve and Mariana Alfaro THE BIG IDEA: Bob Mueller thought his public statement last month could get him out of testifying before Congress about his 448-page report and 22-month investigation. He thought wrong. Complying with a subpoena issued yesterday, the former special counsel has agreed to appear in back-to-back public hearings on July 17 before two House committees. Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) needed to issue a subpoena to persuade Mueller to appear, but the duo pledged in a letter that they will work with him to address his "legitimate concerns about preserving the integrity" of his probe and EFTA00021202 said they will respect his desire not to discuss the "several criminal investigations" that he referred to other Justice Department offices, which are ongoing. Here are five things to watch for at the hearing three Wednesdays from now: What you need to know about Trump, Mueller and obstruction of justice 1) Will Mueller say anything he hasn't said already? Don't count on it. "The report is my testimony," the former special counsel said on May 29. "Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. ... I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress." The 74-year-old is no novice. It seems exceptionally unlikely that Mueller will be baited into saying something he doesn't want to say. He's testified before Congress more than 50 times, including during high-profile hearings as FBI director after the 9/11 attacks and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. The C-SPAN archive includes more than 140 hours of footage of him fielding questions from sometimes hostile lawmakers. "Mueller is no longer a Justice Department employee, and after the special counsel's office formally closed last month, he and his personal representatives had been negotiating directly with the committee. ... Those who know him well said that it was virtually impossible that he would ignore or reject a subpoena," per Rachael Bade, Matt Zapotosky and Karoun Demirjian. "Still, Mueller is EFTA00021203 unlikely to answer Democrats' biggest question: whether he or his team thought there was sufficient evidence to charge President Trump with obstruction, were he not president." He said during his brief remarks at the Justice Department that if his office "had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," and he noted that the Constitution "requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing." On the other hand: Even if Mueller just reads directly from his report, it could have a huge impact. Most Americans and even many lawmakers have not read the whole thing. From a former FBI special agent who now teaches at Yale: The former White House counsel who flipped on Richard Nixon said Mueller can change the conversation: Nixon's White House counsel says Mueller provided House committee with 'a roadmap' 2) Can Democratic leaders keep expectations in check and prevent the hearings from becoming a circus? Privately, many House Democrats and their aides worry they will not be able to. This is going to be a television extravaganza. Cable channels on the right and left will cover Mueller's appearance wall to wall. The networks will likely preempt regularly scheduled programming. But if Mueller doesn't say anything groundbreaking or EFTA00021204 explosive despite weeks of hype, the narrative could be that his appearance was a let down for Democrats. Moreover, it's politically imperative for Democrats that they look like they are motivated by a pursuit of the truth rather than a partisan vendetta against the president. Underscoring why that is, Trump cried "Presidential Harassment!" last night when news broke of Mueller's appearance. Grandstanding lawmakers pulling sophomoric stunts could play into Trump's hands. Think of Rep. Steve Cohen eating Kentucky Fried Chicken last month when Attorney General Bill Barr didn't show up for a hearing. An Obama-era Justice Department spokesman tried to keep expectations check: A Democratic senator from Hawaii emphasized that it will take an election to replace Trump: Asked about Mueller testimony, Trump pivots to Mueller's 'conflicts' of interest 3) Will Trump's Republican allies successfully cast doubt on Mueller's credibility and stain his sterling reputation? Or will they come across as partisan and unserious about his conclusions? EFTA00021205 "Bob Mueller better be prepared," Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told Laura Ingraham on Fox News last night. "Because I can tell you, he will be cross-examined for the first time and the American people will start to see the flaws in his report." "The first thing he needs to answer is his own conflicts of interest," added Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow on Sean Hannity's Fox show. Mueller's unwillingness to engage in a tit-for-tat with Trump and Co. throughout his probe kept him above the fray, but it also allowed the president's boosters to make scurrilous charges about the Vietnam veteran's integrity without strong pushback. Does he finally stand up for himself? Or does he cling to the idea that the quality of his work product speaks for itself? Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), the only GOP lawmaker who has endorsed impeachment, does not sit on either committee so he won't get a round of questioning. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) continues to resist calls to hold hearings on the Mueller report in the other chamber. "It is `case closed' for me," Graham told Hannity on Fox last night. "They can do anything they want to in the House, and I think it will blow up in their face. ... The conclusions can't change." How Barr appeared to misrepresent Mueller's findings 4) Does Mueller's appearance make it easier or harder for Nancy Pelosi to contain calls for impeachment from her caucus? EFTA00021206 "Members of Congress must honor our oath and our patriotic duty to follow the facts, so we can protect our democracy," the speaker said in a statement last night. Nearly 80 House Democrats are now on the record calling for opening impeachment proceedings against Trump. Mueller's sole public appearance in May didn't include any new information, but it nonetheless offered a justification for a stream of Democratic presidential candidates to call for the president's impeachment. Something similar could happen again. More House Democrats could use whatever Mueller says as cover to change their positions — or they could oppose impeachment on the grounds that oversight is being conducted without it. The answer probably depends primarily on whether Mueller's testimony moves the needle in the polls. As Pelosi loves to say, "Public sentiment is everything." Andrew Goldstein, a lead prosecutor for Mueller, walks through the rain outside the building where the Mueller team did its work in March. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Andrew Goldstein, a lead prosecutor for Mueller, walks through the rain outside the building where the Mueller team did its work in March. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) 5) Will any of Mueller's lieutenants appear? "An unspecified number of the special counsel's senior deputies are expected to accompany their former boss and testify in closed session when Mueller appears next month," Politico's Darren Samuelsohn