Trey Gowdy dishes on 'Mueller’s out' in public hearing
Former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy warned people not to get their hopes up for special counsel Robert Mueller's open testimony next week. During an interview Monday evening, Gowdy discouraged hype on the Right for what might be uncovered related to the Russia investigation after discussing the July 17 hearing with Rep. John Ratcliffe, a leading GOP investigator on both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, which are hosting the event.
"I think what he is going to say on that, and John Ratcliffe and I were discussing it over the weekend. I think what he’s going to say, 'That is not what Rod Rosenstein asked me to do. I did what the acting DOJ [attorney general] he asked me to do, which is look at — go back to Rod’s memo. What did Russia do in 2016? And then a specific reference to the Trump campaign,'" Gowdy said on Fox News, referring to scope memos that outline the breadth and limitations of the special counsel's mandate. "I think that is Mueller’s out," he added. "His out on when did you know there was no collusion is going to be when we interviewed the last witness. So Mueller does not want to come. He does not want to come because he's not going to deviate from his report."
Mueller's report, released in April with redactions, shows his team was not able to establish criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign, but left open the question of possible obstruction of justice. The report laid out 10 instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, but Mueller declined to make a determination on the matter, citing a Justice Department guideline that sitting presidents cannot be indicted. Although Trump and his allies say the case is closed, Democrats argue Mueller's refusal to clear Trump on obstruction provides them a road map to continue to investigate and possibly seek impeachment. Attorney General William Barr said he and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined there was not sufficient evidence to establish a crime had occurred.
Gowdy, who has been critical of the public setting of the hearing, also tamped down expectations for Democrats eager to ask "incendiary questions" about obstruction and impeachment. "You are not going to learn anything next Wednesday that you don’t already know," he said on Hannity.
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