The breaking news is everywhere: “Mueller agrees to testify before House committees.”
Former Special Counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, will testify in open session before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on July 17.
Yet Robert Mueller is not the upstanding patriot some are portraying him to be. What Mueller has done is to simply agree to honor two subpoenas.
After weeks of negotiations between Mueller and House Democrats for his voluntary testimony, House Committee Chairmen, Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff, were forced to issue subpoenas for Mueller’s testimony.
Mueller made it clear in a rare public statement in May that he did not wish to testify publicly about his investigation. He said his report spoke for itself … my “report is my testimony.”
“He was and is deeply reluctant to come testify, but nonetheless he has agreed to respect the subpoena,” said Schiff.
Schiff made it clear this is not a “friendly” subpoena.
“I don’t think the Special Counsel’s Office would characterize it as a ‘friendly subpoena,’” said Schiff. “He did not want to testify. He made that very clear.”
Chairman Nadler, during an interview on CNN Tuesday night, said that he is not worried that the White House or Department of Justice will block Mueller’s testimony.
“No, I’m not really worried about that because Mueller is an honest, upstanding citizen and he will testify in response to the subpoena that we issued,” Nadler said.
So the best that can be said of “Bobby Three Sticks” Mueller is that he is not defying a subpoena as many other potential witnesses have done.
After all, Mueller is a former Eagle Scout!
Yet it should never have come to this (subpoena).
Photo | theatlantic.com/REUTERS/Jim Bourg
