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Robert Mueller will make his first statement on the Russia interference investigation on May 29 at 11 a.m., according to the Justice Department. Mueller, who was appointed to lead the investigation in May 2017, has not made any public statement since he submitted his report in March 2019. A redacted version of the report was released publicly on April 18, 2019. The press release announcing the statement said, “This will be a statement only, no question and answer period to follow.”
You can watch the statement at 11 a.m. Eastern time here:
Mueller’s statement comes shortly after the news that Michael Wolff’s new book asserts that the special counsel had drawn up a three-count obstruction of justice indictment against President Donald Trump. During the investigation, Mueller examined 10 “discrete acts” in which the president may have obstructed justice.
In the time since Mueller submitted his report, House Democrats have been trying to have him testify before Congress. At the time of writing, no agreement has been made for a testimony. Attorney General William Barr has said that he does not object to Mueller testifying while the president does not seem so keen. The Associated Press has reported that the president is mindful of how Michael Cohen’s February 2019 testimony reflected very badly on Trump and has “stewed for days about the prospect of the media coverage that would be given to Mueller.” NBC News’ Hans Nichols reports that the White House made no attempt to stop Mueller from speaking on May 29.
Mueller’s investigation uncovered that while there was significant efforts by Russian operatives to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, the Trump campaign did not seek to conspire with any officials. It has been widely reported that Mueller, as well as members of his team, did not agree with William Barr’s characterization of the report. A letter that Mueller wrote to Barr read, “There is now a public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
On the same day that the Mueller statement was made, it was reported that William Barr will give his first network television interview to CBS on “This Morning” on May 31.
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