Mueller’s potential testimony, if he agrees to appear, creates the potential for a high-risk congressional hearing in the heat of the 2020 presidential election, where Senate Republicans would have their first chance to try to directly weaken the leader of the near A two-year investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign, while Mueller and Senate Democrats would seek to disprove attacks by Trump and his allies that have expanded in recent months.
Mueller has reiterated that the investigation he conducted, including several senior advisers to Trump and his contacts with the Russians, was deserved, and several Trump associates were convicted of obstructive acts.
In Congress, Graham leads one of two Republican Senate investigations into the origins of the FBI investigation in Russia, along with Senate President for Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Graham’s committee has already heard former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who named Mueller, and both presidents have been given extensive subpoena power to transport senior officials from the Obama administration.
“I am hell-bent on making sure someone investigates investigators,” Graham said on the Gowdy podcast Tuesday.
Graham said he wanted to question Mueller about the problems that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz identified with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act orders for former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, as well as the evidence. that his investigators had related to collusion with Russia in August 2017. when Rosenstein issued a memo describing the scope of the special counsel’s investigation.
“At the end of the day, Trey decided to intervene in the Roger Stone case,” Graham said of Mueller. “So if Mr. Mueller wants to comment on that aspect of the investigation, I want him to comment on Carter Page’s purchase order request.”
Horowitz’s report detailed numerous problems related to FISA’s request for Page, while discovering that the FBI had sufficient reason to open the Russian investigation. Horowitz also concluded that the most misleading allegations in former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele’s opposition investigation file were not substantiated, but the file played no role in opening the investigation.
Graham also said he would request that the Trump administration declassify the 2017 FBI interview notes with one of Steele’s sources for the record, which Republicans accuse of raising critical doubts about the validity of Steele’s allegations that the FBI did not I consider.
“My staff finally had to see it, it’s classified,” said Graham. “I’m going to try not to qualify.”
Republicans in Congress have already received a series of declassified documents by the Trump administration, which raised questions about the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and included a list of three dozen officials who made related “unmasking” requests, an intelligence practice of routine. to identify Americans in intelligence reports whose identities are hidden, related to Flynn during Trump’s transition.
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