In a letter to Mueller, Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer wrote that his testimony set for Wednesday “must remain within the boundaries of your public report because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege.”
JUST IN: DOJ tells Mueller not to go beyond the scope of his report when he testifies before Congress Wednesday. @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/9y4f8Q5PRe
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) July 22, 2019
The letter outlines that the privileges would include “discussion about investigative steps or decisions made during your investigation not otherwise described in the public version of your report.”
Democrats are expected to try to get Mueller to focus his testimony on specific examples of Trump’s misconduct during the hearings before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, said on Sunday he believes there is “substantial evidence” that Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanours.
Mueller has been using offices at his former law firm WilmerHale and working with a small team from the special counsel’s office to prepare for Wednesday’s hearings, his spokesman Jim Popkin said.
“He will come well prepared,” Popkin said. “His team has been working on this for awhile and they will be ready for whatever comes their way.”
Mueller released his report on his investigation in April, in which he said he found no basis for accusing US President Donald Trump of collusion with Russia during his 2016 campaign. However, the extensive redactions in the publicly released version of the report have given Trump's opponents hope that the document may contain something that they can use to support their allegations of a wrongful victory in the presidential race.
