Robert Mueller is set to appear in his first interview since completing his special counsel investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election.
The reclusive former FBI director, who is also a decorated Marine Corps veteran and served during the Vietnam War, will be a guest on season four of the Oath, a podcast hosted by Chuck Rosenberg, which begins on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
Rosenberg, a former acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a preview that the interview with Mueller will be split into two parts. The announcement comes at a time when President Trump is contesting the results of the 2020 election. Former Vice President Joe Biden is projected to be president-elect.
“The worst thing that could happen in Vietnam is to fail because failure is synonymous with death. The Marine Corps has entrusted you as their leader. They look to you,” Mueller said in a snippet.
Mueller, who is now 76, was appointed special counsel in May 2017 after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. The FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russia was wrapped into Mueller’s special counsel effort, which culminated in the release of a 448-page report with redactions in April 2019. Some of those redactions have since been lifted.
Mueller’s team was unable to find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but the report described 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice that Democrats seized on as a road map to impeachment. The investigation did, however, lead to several convictions and guilty pleas from Trump’s associates over charges unrelated to collusion with Russia.
Trump and many of his allies have long derided the investigation as a “witch hunt,” and there are efforts underway by the Justice Department and Republicans in Congress to seek out any misconduct by the investigators. Democrats have long criticized Attorney General William Barr, who assumed control of the Justice Department in February 2019, for preceding the release of Mueller’s report with a letter of “principal conclusions” in which he and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump obstructed justice.
Mueller has not made a big public appearance since he testified before two House committees about his Russia investigation report in July 2019.
But Mueller has written the occasional statement or op-ed to comment on developments related to the inquiry, including to say that Roger Stone was “rightfully” still a convicted felon after Trump commuted his longtime friend’s sentence. In September, Mueller defended the Russia investigation against criticism from former special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann and others, arguing that he ran the effort “without any interest in currying favor or fear of the consequences.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, invited Mueller to testify about the Russia investigation but said in mid-September that the former FBI director declined because “he doesn’t have enough time.”
Author: Daniel Chaitin
Source: Washington Examiner: Robert Mueller set to appear in first interview since Russia investigation
