US Senate will call Mueller to testify on Russia probe

Washington: US Senator Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Sunday that he would call former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before his panel about the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and ties to the Trump campaign.

The announcement, part of an election-year bid by Senate Republicans to discredit the inquiry, came after Mueller broke a nearly year-long silence on Saturday in an op-ed for The Washington Post, in which he defended his office's prosecution of Roger Stone and its broader investigation.

US President Donald Trump had brought the investigation, which consumed much of his early presidency, to the fore again when he commuted Stone's sentence on Friday and the White House issued a lengthy statement denouncing Mueller's investigation and the "overzealous prosecutors" who convicted Stone.

"Apparently Mr Mueller is willing — and also capable — of defending the Mueller investigation through an op-ed in The Washington Post," Graham wrote on Twitter.

"Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have previously requested Mr Mueller appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify about his investigation. That request will be granted."

Former special counsel Robert Mueller.Credit: AP

A spokeswoman for the committee confirmed on Sunday that it was preparing a formal invitation to Mueller.

While the special counsel's investigation did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump's campaign and Russia, it did outline numerous contacts between them and documented several instances when Trump took actions to impede the inquiry.

Since the release of the special counsel's report last year, Republicans have sought to cast doubt on its conclusions by tarnishing Mueller and his investigators and painting the Trump campaign as victim to malicious overreach by law enforcement officials.

Last month, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to give themselves expansive authority to subpoena dozens of national security aides and several high-ranking Obama administration officials, and Graham signalled that he would hold public hearings highlighting errors and omissions by investigators that had been uncovered by a Justice Department inspector general.

A similar investigation is being taken up by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

"We need to look long and hard at how the Mueller investigation got off the rails," Graham said before the vote.

"This committee is not going to sit on the sidelines and move on."

The New York Times

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