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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJustice Dept. Tells Mueller Deputies Not to Testify, Scrambling an Agreement
July 9, 2019
WASHINGTON The Justice Department is seeking to discourage Robert S. Mueller IIIs deputies from testifying before Congress, potentially jeopardizing an agreement for two of the former prosecutors to answer lawmakers questions in private next week, according to two government officials familiar with the matter.
The department told the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees last week that it was opposed to the testimony and had communicated its view to the two former members of Mr. Muellers team, Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles III, according to a senior congressional official familiar with the discussions. A Justice Department official confirmed that account and said that the department had instructed both men not to appear.
It is unclear what effect the Justice Departments intervention will have on the mens eventual appearances, but it raises the prospect that a deal lawmakers thought they had struck last month for testimony from Mr. Mueller, the former special counsel, and the two prosecutors could still unravel.
Both Mr. Zebley and Mr. Quarles have left the Justice Department and are now private citizens, meaning that the department most likely cannot actually block their testimony. But the departments view depending on how strongly it is expressed could have a chilling effect on two longtime employees and give them cover to avoid testifying.
The department told the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees last week that it was opposed to the testimony and had communicated its view to the two former members of Mr. Muellers team, Aaron Zebley and James L. Quarles III, according to a senior congressional official familiar with the discussions. A Justice Department official confirmed that account and said that the department had instructed both men not to appear.
It is unclear what effect the Justice Departments intervention will have on the mens eventual appearances, but it raises the prospect that a deal lawmakers thought they had struck last month for testimony from Mr. Mueller, the former special counsel, and the two prosecutors could still unravel.
Both Mr. Zebley and Mr. Quarles have left the Justice Department and are now private citizens, meaning that the department most likely cannot actually block their testimony. But the departments view depending on how strongly it is expressed could have a chilling effect on two longtime employees and give them cover to avoid testifying.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/us/politics/mueller-testimony-justice-department.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
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Justice Dept. Tells Mueller Deputies Not to Testify, Scrambling an Agreement (Original Post)
spanone
Jul 2019
OP
RockRaven
(14,985 posts)1. If either of them has aspirations of becoming a "public figure" lawyer, this tees it up nicely...
they just need to arrange with the committee for a long, live public hearing... and if they are compelling then BAM! they are the new Preet Bharara/Sally Yates-type commentator.
If they just want to maintain a career as a practicing big-name-firm white-collar corporate lawyer type then they will use the DOJ as cover to stay out of the spotlight...
kentuck
(111,110 posts)2. At what point do we call it a cover-up?
Or is it just a continuation of obstruction?
spanone
(135,858 posts)5. 🙄🔫 The neutering of the House of Representatives
watoos
(7,142 posts)3. I want to see Andrew Weissmann
uponit7771
(90,348 posts)4. "the department had instructed both men not to appear. "