The 14 Most Important Questions for Robert Mueller
“The report is my testimony,” Robert Mueller stated at his press conference on May 29. “I hope and expect this will be the only time I speak to you in this manner.” But no! After weeks of subpoenas, wrangling, and rescheduling, the former special counsel is finally scheduled to come before Congress tomorrow, beginning with a House Judiciary Committee hearing at 8:30 a.m., followed at 12 p.m. with a House Intelligence Committee hearing. Since many Americans were apparently daunted by the prospect of reading the 448-page Mueller Report themselves, the hearing may serve as a primer of the Mueller’s team’s most important findings. And if you are among the many who gets his or her information exclusively from Trump-friend media, many of the more shocking revelations in the report will be news to you.
While we watch, let’s keep in mind this passage, on page 78 of Volume One of the report: “When Sessions told the president that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the president slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.’”
So, in short, is the president fucked? Will the Democrats be able to get Mueller to open up about how he came to his conclusions? Will the Republicans attempt to discredit—even skewer—Mueller, a decorated military veteran, former FBI director, and life-long Republican himself, who the president has characterized as “highly conflicted”? Will Mueller be infuriatingly restrained in his responses, especially since last night the Department of Justice sent him a letter informing him that his testimony must strictly adhere to the report, “because matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege.”
Here are some of the questions Congress may ask Mueller tomorrow, starting with the most important ones:
Why did you not demand an in-person, sit-down interview with the president?
Why didn’t you subpoena the president?
Do you think Trump was truthful in the written answers he did provide you with?
Would you have charged President Trump with a crime if not for the Justice Department policy against indicting sitting presidents?
When the president keeps repeating, “No obstruction, no collusion, total exoneration,” is he telling the truth?
Did you intend for your report to serve as a blueprint for Congress for possible impeachment proceedings?
Of the 11 episodes involving possible obstruction of justice by the president, which did you consider the worst and why?
Were you blindsided when Attorney General Barr mischaracterized your report as essentially exonerating the president, when this was not the case?
Were you furious?
Is that why you sent a letter to the attorney general stating that his statements “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions?”
Did Attorney General Barr ask you to end the investigation early?
Did you feel your work was done?
Do you believe there is evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians in any way to affect the outcome of the 2016 election?
How do we prevent Russian meddling in 2020, perhaps the most important election of our lifetime?
Originally Appeared on Vogue
