Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are calling on special counsel Robert Mueller to publicly testify about his probe into collusion with Russia, citing a “crisis of confidence” regarding Attorney General Bill Barr.
Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer alleged in a statement Thursday morning that Barr’s decision to hold a press conference prior to the release of the redacted Mueller report proves that his impartiality is threatened. The top Democrats also attacked Barr’s letter in late March summarizing the principal conclusions of Mueller’s investigation as “slanted.”
There it is. Schumer and pelosi call for mueller to testify publicly. pic.twitter.com/HyElaDIlIv
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) April 18, 2019
Barr told Congress last week that the special counsel’s team was working with him on redacting the report, and added that he offered Mueller the opportunity to review his letter of principal conclusions before it was released to the public but Mueller declined. (RELATED: AG William Barr To Announce Mueller Findings At Press Conference)
The full report — with partial redactions to protect grand jury and classified information — will be released this afternoon, several hours after Barr’s presser.
Republican Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, previously called on the committee’s chairman, Democratic New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, to invite Mueller to testify.
“If you seek both transparency and for the American public to learn the full contours of the Special Counsel’s investigation, public testimony from Special Counsel Mueller himself is undoubtedly the best way to accomplish this goal,” Collins wrote in a letter to Nadler.