Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island walked back comments he made Sunday indicating special counsel Robert Mueller would testify before Congress in May.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Cicilline said that the date of May 15 had been fixed for Mueller to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
“A tentative date has been set for May 15 and we hope the special counsel will appear,” Cicilline said. “We think the American people have a right to hear directly from him.”
After his appearance on the show, however, Cicilline took to Twitter to clarify that the May 15 date was not in fact set.
“Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion,” he tweeted.
Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That’s the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion. https://t.co/FfR8ReLmkp
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) May 5, 2019
On the show, Cicilline, 57, a former Mayor of Providence and the first openly gay mayor of a state capital, said that a representative of Mueller had confirmed, but expressed a bit of uncertainty about whether Mueller would end up showing.
“The White House has so far indicated they would not interfere with Mr. Mueller’s attempts to testify,” the congressman said Sunday. “Until the day comes we never have an absolute guarantee.”
Democrats have been calling for Mueller to testify since a redacted version of his 448-page report was released last month. Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday but did not appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
