Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday said he is not preventing special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee.
“It’s Bob’s call whether he wants to testify,” Barr told The Wall Street Journal.
Barr’s comment comes just days after President Donald Trump said he was leaving the decision to his attorney general on whether Mueller could testify.
Trump has wavered publicly in recent days on the prospect of Mueller’s testimony before Congress as his administration has clashed sharply with lawmakers over demands for documents and testimony.
Asked earlier in May, the President said, “I don’t know. That’s up to our attorney general, who I think has done a fantastic job.”
Days later, Trump reversed course and said Mueller “should not testify” as the President resurfaced his regular complaints about the Mueller investigation, before switching back last week, saying the decision would be up to “our very great attorney general.”
Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, said last week the exact date for Mueller to come speak publicly before Congress is under discussion.
“It won’t be next week,” Nadler told reporters last Friday. “But we’re negotiating with him, we’re talking to him and the Justice Department.”
CNN’s Eli Watkins and Jeremy Herb contributed to his report.
