Investigation. And the fact that barr has been really the only voice speaking out on this has fed that perception. So with mueller now finally adding his voice, that will hurt the president s ability to continue this line of total exoneration, jim. Especially when its not true. Doesnt match the facts. Sarah westwood, thanks very much. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. Top of the hour here. I am jim sciutto in new york. Our breaking news, a bombshell in the making. Robert mueller, the Special Counsel, who has not said a word in public since he took over the Russia Investigation two years ago this very month, is set to make a Public Statement, his first Public Statement one hour from now. This comes amid weeks of negotiations with the House Judiciary Committee over whether and how he will answer questions on the hill about the report that he submitted in march and will he take questions, will he take them in public . A lot of open questions there about the testimony. But no question now that in one hour, less than an hour, you will hear from that man there
for the First Time Since the start of this investigation. Our dana bash is In Washington. Dana, you and i have been covering this investigation since the very start. Tell us about the significance of this moment. You really cant overstate how significant it is, in that, as you said, we have not heard from Robert Mueller. Obviously, we have a very dense, lengthy, detailed report from mueller and his team about the investigation that lasted two years, the conclusion of what it meant, but even in trial after trial, courtroom after courtroom, we heard and saw members of muellers team. Not Robert Mueller himself. We basically have, you know, the pictures and the video that our team got of him going in and out of his office all that time. So this is hugely significant. The fact that they are telling us from the Justice Department that he is going to make a statement. He is not going to take
questions, obviously begs a very big question in terms of the content. Why does he feel so compelled to come out to say whatever it is that hes going to say, especially given the back and forth that youve been talking about with our colleagues over whether or not he should or will testify, not just privately, but more importantly, publicly before the House Judiciary Committee. You know, we have not heard his voice, words come out of his mouth, dana, but as you know, he did submit not one, but two letters to the Attorney General following Attorney General barrs characterization of the mueller findings, which mueller in those letters, we now know, says hey, wait a second, youre not saying what i said in my report here, and i wonder what kind of potential conflict that sets up in these comments here. Again, we dont know if hes going to repeat that line of
argument. We also dont know if bill barr signed off on whatever Public Statement bob muellers about to make here. But the fact is, there is already a Public Disagreement, is there not, between bob mueller and bill barr on this . Absolutely. Absolutely. A Public Disagreement that Robert Mueller clearly wanted to be public after he was frustrated, to say the least, by the way that the Attorney General characterized his report in the summary that was sort of the only thing out there for weeks before the actual Mueller Report came out. You know, we dont know. The real we hate to see this when were on television, especially at something so big. We are trying to do reporting, but we dont know the content of what he is going to say in about an hour. It is going to be about the most dramatic moment, i think, its fair to say, that we have had. And that says a lot, given the drama that we have seen and we have been a part of for all of
these months and even years in the trump era. No question. It makes you think of the comey testimony a couple of years back after his firing. Dana bash, stand by. Certainly a lot more to cover here. Laura jarrett is at the Justice Department where, in less than an hour, the Special Counsel will make these groundbreaking Public Comments, or at least Public Statement here. Laura, what are you learning now as we get closer to that moment . Well, jim, were still trying to figure out exactly what he will say, but as dana pointed out, i think the timing here is really interesting. The investigation has been over for quite some time, so why now is the day that he chooses to speak out, of all days . We know that hes been going into work every day, weve been trying to figure out exactly what hes been up to. The Justice Department really wont provide any details on what hes doing every day and so weve been asking the question, and hes finally now going to get to speak for himself. We havent even heard his voice. In many, many years, he hasnt made any Public Statement, he hasnt come to court, he hasnt appeared at the justice
department for any of the Press Conference that other senior justice officials have done on some of the cases, some of the indictments. He has let his deputies handle all of those proceedings. It so will be interesting to hear how he frames whatever argument or statement that he wants to make about the report itself or about his testimony. We dont yet know whether he will address some of the findings of the report. We recall, as you pointed out, in the last hour, he had concerns about how the Attorney General, bill barr, had characterized some of the findings. He and his team members really wanted the Attorney General to put out those summaries that the team had worked up, because he thought that those provided a more fulsome explanation of some of their findings and that the public wasnt getting the full picture. Obviously, the Attorney General opted not to do that and instead to release a redacted report. So well see how much of anything he mentions on some of the substance of the findings versus his testimony, which is still in doubt at this time, jim. Laura, you know how that building works. And i wonder, based on the chain
of command, a statement announced bip ty the Justice Department to be given from the Justice Department, by a Special Counsel who by the Chain Of Command serves under the Attorney General, as head of the Justice Department, would that mean that this statement had been vetted by the Attorney General or even perhaps the white house as well . I think the question is vetted versus given a heads up. I know our colleague Jeremy Diamond is told by a Senior Administration official that the white house was given a heads up, i think, last night, that he was going to make this statement. The Attorney General, bill barr, is actually out of the country in alaska right now, so were trying to figure out exactly what the coordination was between those two men. Obviously, they go back quite some time. Bill barr had been muellers boss for many, many years back in the 90s, so they know each other well. Were trying to dig into what is going on there. But in terms of vetting the statement, i think you get in tricky terrain when you Start Talking about, Someone Vetting It in terms of editing it. I think mueller probably has some things that he wants to say
and theres nothing anyone could do to stop him at this point, jim. Hes been around a while, hes an old marine scout from vietnam, hes proven himself to be his own man through the years. Again, if youre just joining us now, bob mueller will make his first Public Comment on the Russia Investigation, the Justice Department statement says a statement on the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. It will be the first time that we hear from the Special Counsel since the start of this investigation. I want to go to joe johnsons a to the white house. I imagine its not a stretch to say that the white house is bracing itself for what words will come out of the Special Counsels mouth in less than an hour now. Reporter that certainly appears to be the case. What is clear to us through our reporting from the White House Team is, number one, that the white house got a bit of a heads up on the fact that he was going to make this statement. And also, that the white house will not make any statements until after they hear what mr. Mueller has to say. One thing i can tell you from my
own personal experience in my time covering the Justice Department and the supreme court, bob mueller appears to be at least reasonably fond of making exit statements. And i know that because i interviewed him when he left the fbi in a round robin with a number of other journalists from around town. So the question, of course, weve been told for a while that he was about to leave any day now. The question is whether this would be the appropriate time for mr. Mueller to make an exit statement, if you will, as he leaves the office of the Special Counsel. Thats just based on past experience and no direct knowledge, though i have raised the question with the office of the Special Counsel, jim. Interesting possibility. And again, as you say, we dont know. But is that what hes going to say . That hes completed his work and nows his time to go home . Open question. Well know in 52 minutes. A little less than that. David gergen is joining us now. Hes worked for a handful of president s through the years. Again, were in theory territory now, because the Special Counsel has not tipped his hand yet. What is your view of what he hopes to accomplish here . Haha, great question. A dramatic moment. First time bob mueller has spoken in two years. Hes almost been a sphinxlike character. You know, given what we learned in the last two or three weeks about his reluctance to testify in front of an open hearing in the house or the senate, that he does not want to get involved in a political circus, i think thats one pressure hes by putting this at the Justice Department with no questions, he can control the message and the atmosphere much better than going up to the hill. So i think hes partly doing that, but he is also under pressure to clarify, because he put out his report and then along comes barr, the Attorney General, and puts a new gloss on the report, which is much more favorable to the president. And so you have to mueller has to decide, do i want to take that on or not . Or do i want to clarify what my thinking was and where were going . So my sense is, he wants to clarify, but he does not want a circus and this is the compromise to get there. Let me ask you this, because he doesnt want to be seen as political. Okay. But this is a fundamentally political question, is it not . Theres even a theory that what mueller tried to do here was, in effect, give this evidence and allow congress, a political body, to decide if this is evidence of impeachable offenses. I mean, we require a whole host of nonpolitical figures, be the intelligence commanders to testify in public. Whats so special about bob muellers status to avoid such public questioning . I dont think there is all that much difference. But one could understand his reluctance, after spending two years of his life doing this and going so seriously into it. He and his in the final
report, he dodged the political questions. He stuck to the legal issues, and dodged the question of whether this these would be impeachable offenses, if the house so held. Or whether he thought they were impeachable offenses. Remember, since his report, weve had some 900, is it now, former Justice Department prosecutors on both sides of the aisle who come forward and said in a sense that if what mueller had presented to us, if trump were a private citizen, he would be indicted and charged and hed be facing possible jail time. Well, mueller has never spoken on that. And i think people are extraordinarily curious to know, whats his view . What is his view on obstruction given where weve been . And did the Justice Department distort and in some ways spin his report in ways that made him uncomfortable . And to be clear, just a reminder, we mentioned this a few moments ago and we have an image of the letter on screen, on march 27th, Robert Mueller sent a letter that we now have
and has been testified about in congress, it is public, in which he calls out the Attorney General for not properly conveying the weight, the seriousness, the specifics of his findings there. So theres already a Public Disagreement. Of course, the difference between one in writing and one a spoken Public Disagreement is different. Yes, i think thats right. And jim, this may be the last time we hear from mueller. Given his desire to stay out of the spotlight, to stay out of politics, you know, this may be the first and may be the last statement. Well have to wait and see. Its clearly going to raise new questions pant what he thinks, about his judgment, and those reporters are going to be wanting those answers, as will members of various committees on the hill. But it may be very hard to extract them after this statement. This may be his sayonara. His sayonara. Shan wu, youve encountered the Special Counsel through the years, shan, including representing a witness, a
significant witness in this investigation, rick gates, former Deputy Campaign chairman for trump and now someone whos pled guilty to crimes. Tell us what questions he needs to address. Hes going to answer questions, but what questions he needs to address in this statement . I think if it is a farewell statement, it kind of gives him a clear shot at saying what he wants to say. I think what would be really important is for him to address the whole question of, there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges about conspiracy or conclusion with russia. And the problem is, i just cant see mueller making some type of Grand Unveiling that in fact there was a lot here, its an impeachable offense. I cant see him saying that in these circumstances. So he may just kind of amplify a little bit some summary of his findings. And i think that could be very disappointing. But that would be a really crucial piece of insight for him
to give us as to what was really going on there. Do you think that even though theres not enough to bring a criminal charge, that these are very Serious Problems that you found and very serious misgivings and that you really did Want Congress to take a look at that. The problem is, i cant see him giving that much of an opinion about it. Turning to the obstruction side, hes already opined that He Cannot Exonerate the president. So there he may be willing to speak more forcefully, and ideally, shed light on whether that office of Legal Counsel opinion really kept him from bringing a charge. And weve heard some rumors that theres actually an indictment drafted. So i think that would be something i really want the answer for. Was it but for that rule that he would have been charged . Will he address that. I want to quote from his letter march 27th from bill barr to Robert Mueller. He said the following. The Summary Letter that the department sent to congress and released to the public late in the afternoon on march 24th did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this
offices work and conclusions. That is already in letter form a Public Disagreement between the Special Counsel and how the Attorney General portrayed the Special Counsels findings as he put them together over those two years of this investigation. Ga garb, i believe youre still with us. Weve already had two people on the air raise the possibility this could be his swan song, his farewell here. Are you hearing anything in that direction i just spo