breaking news we got tonight. previously described in reporting about the special counsel s process about mueller s chief of staff and we know he was mueller s chief of staff when mueller was fbi director. now it seems that the intelligence committee has made the decision that they re going to swear mr. zebley in as a witness, to sit next to mueller and also answer questions from at least the intelligence committee members, even if judiciary committee seems like they may not be following that same path. chuck, i know you had the same job that aaron zebley did as chief of staff. what do you make of this? well, aaron is as smart and humble and diligent as you could hope for. he also will know the case backward and forward. he worked right next to bob for years, including on the entire special counsel project. so here s what i make of it. if bob doesn t know an answer, aaron will. and aaron s testified in big cases before, including in the eastern district of virginia when i was u.s. at
well, if this has been the plan to have aaron zebley sitting there with mueller at his open testimony tomorrow and that was discussed with the two committees more than a week ago, i mean, that may be true. this is the first that we, the public, are hearing about it for sure. we had thought that maybe some of mueller s deputies including zebley might initially be testifying in closed sessions following mueller s open testimony. then that was reportedly either still in process or maybe cancelled. today s the first day that we learned that he ll be sitting there with mueller. what we understand about the judiciary committee s process is that while they believe they had notice from mueller s office that zebley was due to accompany mueller at the hearing, they didn t necessarily understand that to mean that zebley would be sitting at the table with mueller. it seems like maybe they thought he would be there kind of as a date, right? as support staff sitting behind him, looking sternly at th
want to try to address first, and it s about this issue of mueller s deputy. today we learned that in addition to special counsel robert mueller, there was also a deputy special counsel. there was? aaron zebley had previously been described as mueller s chief of staff in the special counsel s office. indeed, chief of staff is the same job title that zebley had at fbi. when robert mueller was fbi director, aaron zebley was his chief of staff at the fbi. and we thought that s what his role was in the special counsel s office, but today zebley was described as the deputy special counsel. in this statement from mueller s new spokesperson. aaron zebley was the deputy special counsel and had day-to-day oversight of the investigations conducted by the special counsel s office. oh. he will accompany special counsel mueller to the wednesday hearings, as was discussed with the committees more than a week ago. that statement today by mueller s new spokesperson.
of mueller s deputies, including zebley, might initially be testifying in closed sessions following mueller s open testimony. then that was reportedly either still in process or maybe cancelled. today s the first time that we learned that he ll be sitting there with mueller. what we understand about the judiciary committee s process is that while they believe they had notice from mueller s office that zebley was due to accompany mueller at the hearing, they didn t necessarily understand that to mean that zebley would be sitting at the table with mueller. it seems like maybe they thought he would be there kind of as a date, right? as support staff sitting behind him, looking sternly at the camera as mueller alone testified for hours. it seems like that was the impression that the judiciary committee was under. it s a little murky. that s our best understanding, though. that the specific request from mueller was that zebley would sort of just be in the room. now what we think is that the
otherwise in a position to know who have suggested what robert mueller should be asked tomorrow and how. joining us now are two people who have their own very well-earned perspectives on this ahead of tomorrow s questioning. chuck rosenberg is a former senior justice department official and former fbi chief of staff. and neal katyal is former acting solicitor general. chuck and neal, we never put two people on together. i promise you re not here to do punch and judy and fight with each other. definitely not. let me ask you about this breaking news we got tonight. concerning somebody described in reporting about the special counsel s process about mueller s chief of staff and we know he was mueller s chief of staff when mueller was fbi director. now it seems that the intelligence committee has made the decision that they re going to swear mr. zebley in also as a witness, to sit next to mueller and also answer questions from at least the intelligence committee members, even if judici