Donald Trump just punted on Robert Mueller
Now matter how loudly certain TV pundits have insisted over the past week that Donald Trump has made moves to try to block Special Counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before Congress, Palmer Report has kept pointing out that Trump has in fact made no much moves. Trump did tweet several days ago that Mueller shouldn’t testify, but that’s just been whining on his part. Now, predictably, Trump is punting on the matter – and it’s not likely to work out well for him.
Donald Trump announced today that he’ll leave it up to Attorney General William Barr to decide whether Mueller is allowed to testify. That’s cute, but the reality is that Trump and Barr have no legal ability to block Robert Mueller from testifying, or even any avenues to try to block him. The thing is, Barr has probably told Trump as much.
Mueller is still technically a DOJ employee, and Barr is his supervisor. So Barr could instruct Mueller not to testify, but that doesn’t carry legal weight; the worst Barr could do is fire Mueller. That’s not something Mueller would care about at all, as his spokesman told the media last week that he’s set to depart the DOJ within the coming days. In other words, Mueller doesn’t plan to be a government employee when he testifies.
For that matter, the Trump-Barr executive privilege claim over the Mueller report, even if successful, would not prevent Robert Mueller from taking the stand. The most favorable ruling Trump and Barr could obtain from the courts would leave Mueller in a position where he could only discuss the portions of the Mueller report that Barr already publicly released. Even with one hand behind his back, Mueller could still likely use his testimony to dismantle Trump in front of a live television audience.
Maybe William Barr will try some last minute baseless legal maneuver to try to delay Robert Mueller’s testimony and maybe he won’t. But most legal experts have said that there is literally nothing that Barr can even try to do to stop Mueller from showing up and testifying. Mueller is a stickler for rules and procedure, but that actually works to the benefit of House Democrats. If Trump and Barr try to convince Mueller that his testimony might somehow be less than 100% legal, the Democrats can simply subpoena Mueller, thus giving Mueller plenty of legal cover.
