Amid reports Sunday that Democratic Judiciary Committee members are attempting to schedule Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify on May 15, President Trump offered his unequivocal opinion on the issue: “Bob Mueller should not testify,” the president tweeted Sunday. “No redos for the Dems!”
As Politico noted Sunday, Democratic Judiciary Committee member Rep. David Cicilline (R.I.), told “Fox News Sunday” that the committee has tentatively scheduled Mueller to testify on May 15; the congressman later issued a clarification on Twitter. “Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet,” wrote Cicilline on Sunday. “That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion.”
Politico notes that the chairman of the committee, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY) has also said that the committee is trying to schedule Mueller to testify on May 15.
While the White House has said that they will not attempt to prevent Mueller’s testimony, Trump took the Twitter to express his disapproval of Democrats trying to get “redos” on the special counsel’s final report.
“After spending more than $35,000,000 over a two year period, interviewing 500 people, using 18 Trump Hating Angry Democrats & 49 FBI Agents — all culminating in a more than 400 page Report showing NO COLLUSION – why would the Democrats in Congress now need Robert Mueller to testify,” he said in a series of Mueller-themed tweets (tweets below). “Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion? There was no crime, except on the other side (incredibly not covered in the Report), and NO OBSTRUCTION. Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!”
Politico suggests that if Trump’s tweet is “interpreted by the attorney general as a direct order to stifle Mueller’s testimony,” it “could set up the most consequential legal question related to the special counsel’s probe: whether executive privilege can be used to stop an executive branch employee from testifying about an investigation into the president.”
A few hours later, Trump posted some more Mueller-related tweets, comparing Mueller to fired FBI Director James Comey, slamming the Democrats’ use of their committees as “bullying” their opponents, and highlighting the role Comey played in helping to get the Russia collusion investigation rolling.
Quoting former Whitewater independent counsel Robert Ray, Trump tweeted: “The Report sounded an awful lot as being Comeyesque, in other words, I’m not going to charge this person (there wasn’t even close to being a crime), but I’m going to criticize him on the way out the door. That’s unfortunate because it’s stepping outside of the role.”
He followed up that quote with another by The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Riley: “This is not Congressional Oversight, this is bullying.”
Trump then retweeted a post by Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, who wrote: “Comey’s FBI sent undercover agents to spy on @realDonaldTrump’s campaign. It’s a stunning revelation of the lengths the Obama administration went. Instead of a phony Russia collusion investigation, we actually need to investigate how this whole hoax started.”
Trump continued to slam the Democrats’ “obstruction” impeachment strategy on Monday morning, quoting One America News Network: “‘Democrat Texas Congressman Al Green says impeachment is the only thing that can prevent President Trump from re-election in 2020.'” Trump added: “In other words, Dems can’t win the election fairly. You can’t impeach a president for creating the best economy in our country’s history….Also, there are ‘No High Crimes & Misdemeanors,’ No Collusion, No Conspiracy, No Obstruction. ALL THE CRIMES ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE, and that’s what the Dems should be looking at, but they won’t. Nevertheless, the tables are turning!”
