Conservative commentator Mark Levin accused special counsel Robert Mueller of forgoing a subpoena to compel President Trump to testify in the Russia investigation in an effort to “smear” the president.
Mueller wrote in his nearly 450-page report that his team considered subpoenaing the president for an in-person interview but ultimately decided to rely on written answers so as not to prolong the investigation or drive up the costs with a potentially lengthy legal battle. As seen in his report, released with redactions on Thursday, Mueller considered Trump’s written answers “inadequate.”
“We determined that the substantial quantity of information we had obtained from other sources allowed us to draw relevant factual conclusions on intent and credibility, which are often inferred from circumstantial evidence and assessed without direct testimony from the subject of the investigation,” the report said.
On his Fox News show Sunday, Levin said Mueller was being “dishonest and deceitful.”
“Then why did you make a big deal to interview the president of the United States?” Levin said. “He would’ve lost his subpoena battle, ladies and gentlemen, so he’s not telling the truth, and he would’ve lost it, and that would’ve been that.”
“‘We don’t need the president’s testimony; we can smear him without it,'” the conservative commentator imagined Mueller’s team plotting.
Mueller’s report described “numerous links” between the Trump campaign and the Russians, but the special counsel said “the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.” The report also detailed numerous instances of possible obstruction of justice but did not make a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed the investigation. Attorney General William Barr instead made the conclusion, determining Trump did not obstruct justice.
