Judiciary Democrats announce series of hearings on Mueller report

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee on Monday announced a series of hearings on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation in order to further examine President Trump’s conduct as well as election interference by Moscow.

Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced the next hearing, titled “Lessons from the Mueller Report: Presidential Obstruction and Other Crimes,” on June 10 as a way to push forward with the committee’s sprawling oversight investigation into the Trump administration amid stonewalling from the White House.

{mosads}”While the White House continues to cover up and stonewall, and to prevent the American people from knowing the truth, we will continue to move forward with our investigation,” Nadler said in a statement.

“These hearings will allow us to examine the findings laid out in Mueller’s report so that we can work to protect the rule of law and protect future elections through consideration of legislative and other remedies,” Nadler added.

Former White House Counsel John Dean as well as former U.S. attorneys and legal experts are slated to testify at the hearing next week.

Dean will be the first in a series of witnesses, according to Nadler.

“Given the threat posed by the President’s alleged misconduct, our first hearing will focus on President Trump’s most overt acts of obstruction. In the coming weeks, other hearings will focus on other important aspects of the Mueller report,” Nadler said in his statement, adding that Mueller “has now left Congress to pick up where he left off.”

The hearings come as Democrats and the White House are locked in a fight over the testimony of current and former Trump administration officials.

In particular, Democrats want to call witnesses to testify about the episodes Mueller investigated as possible cases of obstruction of justice by Trump, including attempts to have Mueller fired from the investigation.

But House Democrats faced a setback last week when Mueller, during his first public remarks since the probe ended, stated that he does not want to testify before Congress and that his lengthy report should stand as his testimony.

While Nadler has remained vague on whether he will subpoena Mueller to testify, other Democrats have continued their calls for his public testimony, stating that he is a key witness.

The special counsel also reiterated last week that the evidence collected in the investigation was “insufficient” to charge a broader conspiracy between members or associates of the Trump campaign and Russia.

Mueller, however, said he did not reach a determination on the question of whether the president obstructed justice.

It was Attorney General William Barr along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and other Department of Justice counsels who determined that the evidence laid out in Mueller’s report was insufficient to accuse Trump of obstruction.

Mueller’s remarks renewed calls from Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings and further fired up Democrats who say the ball is in their court when it comes to making a call on whether Trump obstructed justice.