Although nothing has been confirmed, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are hoping to bring in special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Wednesday, May 15 — and President Donald Trump is vehemently opposed to the idea, tweeting on Sunday, “Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems.” But, according to legal experts, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee might have a chance to hear testimony from Mueller on his final report for the Russia investigation whether the president likes it or not.
Conservative Jennifer Rubin interviewed two legal experts for her May 6 column for the Washington Post, asking them to weigh in on Trump’s opposition to Mueller testifying before Congress. Constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe stressed to Rubin that Trump doesn’t have the authority to prevent Mueller from testifying.
“Of course, there is no way Trump can stop Bob Mueller from testifying,” Tribe told Rubin. “There is no executive privilege between them and obviously, no attorney/client privilege — and Mueller doesn’t even work for Trump.”
Tribe added that until Mueller leaves the U.S. Department of Justice, he works for Attorney General William Barr — who, according to Tribe, “has no conceivable basis to stop Mueller from testifying.”
Rubin also spoke to law professor and former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance, who asserted that Trump only makes himself look bad by trying to discourage Mueller from testifying before Congress. “If Trump has nothing to worry about,” Vance told Rubin, “he’d be scheduling Mueller’s testimony himself. His concern is a red flag.”
Law & Crime’s Alberto Luperon spoke to Frank O. Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri, about Trump urging Mueller not to testify. Bowman said that hypothetically, Trump could assert executive privilege if Mueller had been a confidential adviser who resigned, but Mueller was nothing of the kind.
However, Bowman told Luperon that Barr could ask Mueller not to testify; Mueller has been working for the U.S. Justice Department, and Barr, as attorney general, heads that department. And White House officials, according to Bowman, could try to edit what Mueller tells Congress by claiming that some things involve classified information. But Trump, as president, doesn’t have the authority to order Mueller not to testify at all, Bowman told Luperon.
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