Poll finds wide support for Mueller and McGahn to testify in Congress

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By a large majority, Americans want special counsel Robert Mueller and former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress, according to a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday.

Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said that Mueller should appear before Congress to answer questions about his investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

As for McGahn, 67 percent of those surveyed said he should testify about the answers he provided for Mueller’s report. That number included a majority of Democrats (90 percent) and independents (65 percent) and a plurality of Republicans (41 percent, compared with 38 percent who disagreed).

Mueller has been in negotiations with Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, as well as with Justice Department officials, about when he might testify and the ground rules for his appearance.

Special counsel Robert Mueller departs after having dinner at Martin's Tavern in Georgetown, Monday, May 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Al Drago)
Special counsel Robert Mueller in Washington, May 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Al Drago)

President Trump, meanwhile, has directed McGahn to ignore a subpoena from House Democrats to appear for further questioning, setting up a battle that threatens to grind government to a halt.

On Wednesday, Trump did just that, walking out of a scheduled meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., over continued congressional oversight of the Mueller investigation.

“You can't do it under these circumstances,” Trump said in a Rose Garden appearance convened shortly after he stormed out of his meeting with Pelosi and Schumer. “Get these phony investigations over with.”

Trump said he was angered after seeing Pelosi tell Capitol Hill reporters that she thought he was “engaged in a cover-up.”

"We do believe that it's important to follow the facts," Pelosi said. "We believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States. And we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up."

Following his own remarks to reporters, the president retreated to Twitter to continue his train of thought. “You can’t investigate and legislate simultaneously — it just doesn’t work that way,” Trump wrote.

But the Monmouth poll found that Americans were not yet ready to turn the page on Mueller’s investigation, with 69 percent indicating they believed Congress was entitled to receive a full version of the special counsel’s report. Just 21 percent said that the version redacted by Attorney General William Barr was sufficient.

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