Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Tuesday called for special counsel Robert Mueller to testify publicly about his Russia investigation in front of Congress.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have been pushing Mueller to appear at a public hearing, but the special counsel’s hesitant to do so for fear of looking political.
“I understand that Mr. Mueller doesn’t want it to become a media circus if he decides to testify, but the American public has a right to hear directly from him,” Kennedy said in a statement. “His investigation cost the American taxpayers more than $25 million. They don’t want a filtered version of his testimony spun by members of Congress with partisan agendas.”
Kennedy, who sits in the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that people should hear Mueller’s “full testimony and draw their own conclusions.”
Senate Judiciary chair Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in early May that he was open to letting Mueller testify, but only for the special counsel to discuss whether Attorney General Bill Barr mischaracterized a phone call between them.
House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said last week that Mueller wanted to testify in front of the committee privately and only give his opening statement publicly.