cheering anything that robert mueller has to say, based on their actions and their words over the last several months since the report was completed. we ll stand by to get reaction from the white house as soon as mueller finishes his statement. evan perez, you cover the jpt for us, as well. what are you hearing? well, wolf, i think a lot of people are taking note of the fact that the attorney general is out of town. but i should note that his immediate boss, robert mueller s immediate boss, who is the deputy attorney general, jeffrey rosen, he s in the office. he s actually still near washington. you know, just based on having covered robert mueller for a number of years, i don t expect, perhaps, that there will be that much daylight between him and the bosses. it s simply because, you know, that s not his style. again, we could be surprised here and he could stand up and go out with a big bang, but, you know, i think one of the things that he wants to do is let people hear from hi
have indicted the president of the united states if there were not an office of legal counsel opinion that said you cannot do that? and how did that play into your thinking and into your team s thinking. and i hope he elaborates a little bit on that. it s clear that he is a reluctant witness. he doesn t want to go before congress. it seems like he doesn t even want to go before congress behind closed doors. we will find that out. and so, i m hoping that in this statement which laura jarrett says is substantial, that it is substantial and it does answer a question like that. absolutely. and another question, too, you know, whether he makes a statement on his decision to indict, does he does he address and say, in effect, that his boss, bill barr, the attorney general, did not pro r properly characterize the findings of the report, as he said, gloria, you know as well
here. and this is a man, robert mueller, who has been in intense negotiations, not with republicans who run the senate, because lindsey graham would be in charge of that and he says he doesn t need to hear from robert mueller, but house democrats who are desperate to try to find a way for him to testify in public. and as evan was talking about, there has been some stiff resistance, not from the justice department necessarily or the president, which has been quite public, but from robert mueller, because he has been so reluctant to jump into the political circus that is always congress. and the fact that he s doing this when congress isn t here, i think, is knows wortnoteworthy. now, it s 2019. there are cameras everywhere. people can use their iphones to make a video and make a comment, but it s not the same as having manu or phil or any of our colleagues chase after you in the hallways. no question. the significance of the special counsel speaking now after only
one, but one republican lawmaker has said it s not just democrats who believe the president has committed impeachable bayehavio here, because there is, of course, a school of thought that robert mueller s intention was, if he s not making a recommendation to indict, that his view is, it well and truly is up to congress, and that here, congress, is what you should consider. how different is it now that you have a republican very publicly voicing that opinion? you know, very publicly and he said during his town hall you re talking about justin amash that his gop colleagues have said that, not all, but some of them have said that to him privately, as well. you know, the fact is, jim, that impeachment is an inherently political decision. and there is no question i mean, it wasn t even subtle the way robert mueller spelled out what he thought. yes, he didn t make a decision.
you know, that this does not fairly characterize this, the mueller report. and so can he come out after two years he has to come out after two years, he has to understand this. he s a former fbi director, he s a former prosecutor, he s viewed as mr. integrity in washington. he has to address these things. is he going to try to bring some clarity to this, or does after two years he only adds to the confusion. that s a pretty big bar. and it s fascinating timing, because robert mueller did not want to come out and speak publicly when he finished his investigation. he did not want to be the one who shared the conclusions of what he found. he left all of this up to the attorney general. and he s coming out and speaking publicly at a time when members of congress want him to have testify. when many members of congress want him to testify publicly. so i think in some ways, maybe he will accomplish what evan says could be a goal here, which is to say, here i am, i m speaking to you in pub