Sunday, February 16, 2025, 9:09PM |  31°
MENU
SECTIONS
OTHER
CLASSIFIEDS
CONTACT US / FAQ
Advertisement
In this May 29, 2019, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington about the Russia investigation.
1
MORE

Robert Mueller’s longtime aide will appear with him during his testimony

AP photo/Carolyn Kaster

Robert Mueller’s longtime aide will appear with him during his testimony

WASHINGTON — Former Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller’s longtime associate, Aaron Zebley, will appear alongside him and serve as his lawyer as Mr. Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Mr. Zebley, Mr. Mueller’s former chief of staff and his top aide on the Russia investigation, was an unexpected addition to the witness table less than 24 hours before the hearing. The person who provided the information, granted anonymity to freely discuss the talks, said that Mr. Mueller requested Mr. Zebley be sworn in and take questions, but the committee decided instead that he could appear alongside as a counsel.

A spokesman for Mr. Mueller confirmed that Mr. Zebley would be at the hearing, which begins at 8:30 a.m.

Advertisement

“Aaron Zebley was the deputy special counsel and had day-to-day oversight of the investigations conducted by [Mr. Mueller’s] office,” said spokesman Jim Popkin. “He will accompany special counsel Mueller to the Wednesday hearings, as was discussed with the committees more than a week ago.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 23, 2019.
Michael Balsamo
FBI Director Wray dodges senators’ questions on the Mueller report’s findings

Republicans were livid about the change, which they said was last minute. Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the Judiciary panel’s top Republican, called the move an “apparent stunt” by Democrats. He said it “shows the lengths Democrats will go to protect a one-sided narrative from a thorough examination by committee Republicans.”

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, another member of the committee, tweeted: “You don’t get to change the rules right before kickoff.”

House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Tuesday that Mr. Mueller had made a similar request of his committee, which will ask questions of him in a second hearing on Wednesday.

Advertisement

“I would expect that he will have someone with him, and we are in discussions about precisely in what capacity that person will appear with him,” Mr. Schiff said.

Mr. Schiff appeared to have some concerns about the request, saying he didn’t want to see “a hearing with Bob Mueller converted to a hearing with someone else.”

Mr. Mueller will testify for three hours before the House judiciary panel, followed by another two hours in front of the House intel committee starting at noon.

The sessions will review Mr. Mueller’s 448-page report released in April.

The intelligence panel had hoped to question Mr. Zebley and another member of Mr. Mueller’s Russia team, James Quarles, behind closed doors in a separate classified setting. Negotiations on that meeting are ongoing.

Mr. Zebley has not been authorized by the Justice Department to appear at the open hearing, a separate person familiar with the matter said. That person also requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations. Attorney General William Barr has made it clear he does not want Mr. Mueller’s deputies to appear in a closed session, either.

The possible change in lineup comes as the Justice Department is asking Mr. Mueller not to stray beyond his report on Russian election interference when he testifies to Congress on Wednesday.

In a letter sent Monday to Mr. Mueller, Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer said he should not speak about redacted material from his report — including material pertaining to pending criminal prosecutions, “uncharged third-parties” and “executive privilege,” such as “presidential communications privileges.”

The letter is entirely in line with what Mr. Mueller has already said — that he doesn’t intend to speak beyond his report’s findings during Wednesday’s hearings before the House Judiciary and intelligence committees. But it gives Mr. Mueller a formal directive to point to if he faces questions he does not want to answer.

“The report is my testimony,” Mr. Mueller said in a televised statement in May . “I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.”

Still, Democrats are preparing questions to highlight the report’s most damning details. Judiciary panel Democrats planned to practice with a mock hearing behind closed doors Tuesday.

Mr. Barr has said congressional Democrats were trying to create a “public spectacle” by subpoenaing Mr. Mueller to testify and has offered to give Mr. Mueller an out, saying earlier this month that he and the Justice Department would support Mr. Mueller if he decided he didn’t want to “subject himself” to the congressional appearances. Mr. Barr has also said he’d block any attempts to force members of Mr. Mueller’s team to testify before Congress.

While Mr. Mueller’s 448-page report did not find sufficient evidence to establish charges of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to swing the election, it said now-President Donald Trump could not be cleared of trying to obstruct the investigation.

As for Mr. Trump — who has condemned Mr. Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” — the president first said he wouldn’t be watching, then he conceded, probably “a little bit.”

The nation has heard the special counsel speak only once — for nine minutes in May — since his appointment in May 2017.

Mr. Mueller’s testimony will include an opening statement on Wednesday, but his spokesman said it would be similar in substance to his statement from late May at the Justice Department’s podium.

The Justice Department’s letter to Mr. Mueller was in response to a request from Mr. Mueller for information about limitations or potential privilege issues. Mr. Mueller’s spokesman did not immediately provide a copy of the letter the former special counsel had sent to the Justice Department earlier this month.

Democrats on the Judiciary panel will focus on Mr. Mueller’s probe into obstruction of justice. They will point to a handful of episodes reviewed by Mr. Mueller, including Mr. Trump’s directions to White House Counsel Donald McGahn to have Mr. Mueller removed and, once that was made public, orders from Mr. Trump to Mr. McGahn to deny it happened.

Democrats also will focus on meetings Mr. Trump had with former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in which the Republican president directed Mr. Lewandowski to persuade then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mr. Mueller’s investigation, and tell Mr. Sessions he was fired if he wouldn’t meet with him.

The Democratic aides, who requested anonymity to discuss the preparations, say they believe those episodes are clear examples of obstruction of justice, and are easy for the public to understand. To prepare, the Judiciary aides held a mock hearing with lawmakers Tuesday afternoon.

Democratic members of the intelligence panel, which will question Mr. Mueller second, will mostly inquire about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Russian contacts with the Trump campaign. Mr. Mueller said there wasn’t enough evidence to establish a conspiracy between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Republicans, on the other hand, are expected to focus in part on the origins of the Russia investigation, as well as evidence they see of potential bias in the FBI’s handling of the probe.

That’s what Mr. Trump has been saying repeatedly, in rallies, in tweets and impromptu South Lawn exchanges with reporters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Democrats will “see where the facts take us,” and then “we’ll see what happens after that.” Instead of impeachment, she has urged her committees to continue to investigate Mr. Trump and his administration. A six-page document circulated by her office on Tuesday details legislation the Democrats will push after the Mr. Mueller hearing, including efforts to secure elections from future foreign interference and requirements that campaigns report such interference.

Ms. Pelosi’s office is also spearheading a social media campaign, starting Tuesday, with lawmakers sending around two dozen quotes that they see as the most damning in Mr. Mueller’s report. Democrats will also tweet and post about what they see as unanswered questions from the document.

The Democrats have been frustrated by Mr. Trump’s declaration that he will fight all of their subpoenas and decline to cooperate with any of their investigations. They have encountered reluctant witness after reluctant witness, and little new information from those who have talked. The House Judiciary Committee has been preparing a lawsuit to try and compel witnesses to cooperate, but it has yet to be filed.

The Philadelphia Inquirer contributed.

First Published: July 23, 2019, 11:25 p.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
In this March 1933, file photo, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his first radio "fireside chat" in Washington.
1
opinion
David M. Shribman: Is Donald Trump another Washington, Roosevelt, Trump?
Citing the substance's risks, the FDA in late 2023 issued a public safety alert warning that consumers "should not purchase or use any Neptune’s Fix products, or any other product with tianeptine."
2
news
‘Gas station heroin’ arises as a new threat
3
news
Medicaid on the chopping block: Proposed cuts threaten coverage of vulnerable Pennsylvanians
Novo Asian Food Hall on Thursday May 23, 2024, Strip District.  (John Colombo/For the Post-Gazette)
4
news
Legal battle stirs the pot at Novo Asian Food Hall
Elizabeth Sagan Quinlin
5
news
Dr. Elizabeth Sagan Quinlin, trailblazing surgeon in female urology, dies at 71
In this May 29, 2019, file photo, special counsel Robert Mueller speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington about the Russia investigation.  (AP photo/Carolyn Kaster)
AP photo/Carolyn Kaster
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story