Report: Mueller's 'Conservative Approach' Could Hinder House Dems

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s “conservative approach” may work against Democrats who want to grill him on his lack of conclusions about obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Quoting an observation about Mueller from former deputy Andrew McCabe, Mueller’s attitude toward Capitol Hill is “only go when it is unavoidable,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yet it’s a date Democratic lawmakers are keen to make — and which seems unlikely soon — regarding his report on 2016 election interference.

“He should tell his story to the American people so that they can decide based on the information he presents how we should collectively proceed,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D., N.Y., chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, the Journal reported.

Complicating Mueller’s longstanding skepticism about Capitol Hill is his status as a Justice Department employee, which means Attorney General William Barr has final say over whether he appears, the Journal noted.

According to the Journal, many Democrats now believe it would be better to wait to hear from Mueller after his term as special counsel ends, though that also raises legal issues.

A key question Democrats want to ask him is his decision to avoid concluding whether or not Trump obstructed justice. Mueller cited an Office of Legal Counsel opinion barring the indictment of a sitting president. But he stopped short of saying whether he otherwise would have tried to indict the president.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity about why he made the decisions he did on obstruction of justice,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told the Journal, adding: “I’d like to hear from Bob Mueller what his reasoning was.”

Mueller is likely to only go so far in explaining himself, the Journal reported.

“His generally conservative approach may mean that even if questions about why he did not recommend criminal charges are asked, he may not answer it. But there is only one way to find out,” Greg Brower, a former head of the FBI’s office of congressional affairs, told the Journal.

But, Brower added, the confusion and criticism that resulted from Mueller’s failure to reach a conclusion on obstruction might motivate him to explain his thinking and set the record straight.

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