WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) – The Justice Department is attempting to prevent two former members of the Special Advocate team Robert Mueller from testifying behind closed doors while Mueller is on trial. to make a public appearance before lawmakers next week, reported Wednesday the New York Times.
The department said last week that it was opposed to the testimony of Aaron Zebley and James Quarles before the House of Representatives' Democrat-led House of Representatives and Intelligence Committees. told the newspaper a senior congressman. An official of the Ministry of Justice confirmed the account and ordered the men not to appear, the newspaper added.
A person familiar with the case told Reuters that former members of Mueller's team were in negotiations to testify in front of both panels in camera. The person could not confirm that the Ministry of Justice had ordered them not to testify.
Mueller is scheduled to testify in open court before the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees of the House of Representatives on July 17.
Department of Justice officials were not immediately available to comment on the report. Committee spokespersons did not respond to a request for comment.
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Robert Mueller
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WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 28: Former FBI director Robert Mueller attends the swearing-in ceremony of FBI director James Comey at the FBI headquarters on October 28, 2013 in Washington, DC. Comey was officially sworn in as FBI director on Sept. 4 to succeed Mueller, who had been in the position for 12 years. (Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images)
On June 21, 2013, US President Barack Obama applauds outgoing director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller at Rose House in the White House in Washington for Jim Comey director of the FBI. Comey, a Deputy Attorney General of George W. Bush, would replace Mueller, who leaves the agency he has been leading since the week before the September 11, 2001 attacks. AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KAMM (The photo credit should correspond to NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP / Getty Images)
The outgoing FBI director, Robert Mueller, applauds key members of his staff at a farewell ceremony held for him at the Justice Department in Washington on August 1, 2013. On Monday, the US Senate has confirmed that former Deputy Attorney General James Comey will replace Mueller, who has headed the office ever since. shortly before the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME LAW HEAD)
391489 03: US President George W. Bush expressing himself during a conference, alongside the Justice Department veteran, Robert Mueller, left, who he appointed to the head FBI, and Attorney General John Ashcroft on July 5, 2001, the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
On August 1, 2013, outgoing FBI director Robert Mueller defended the national anthem at a farewell ceremony before the Justice Department in Washington. The US Senate confirmed Monday the appointment of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey to the position of Deputy Attorney General. shortly before the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
Outgoing FBI director Robert Mueller (left) reacts to a public ovation from US Attorney General James Cole (right) and US Attorney General Eric Holder (right) at the ceremony. Mueller farewell to the Justice Department in Washington on August 1, 2013. On Monday, the US Senate confirmed that former Deputy Attorney General James Comey replaced Mueller, who headed the office shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. United States. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
On August 1, 2013, the outgoing FBI Director, Robert Mueller, made gestures at a farewell ceremony that took place before him at the Justice Department in Washington. On Monday, the US Senate confirmed the appointment of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey as Deputy Attorney General. shortly before the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
FILE PHOTO – US Attorney General John Ashcroft (right) and FBI Director Robert Mueller discuss potential terrorist threats against the United States in Washington, DC, May 26, 2004. REUTERS / Kevin Lamarque / File Photo
On August 1, 2013, outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller responded to public applause at his farewell ceremony at the Washington Department of Justice. The Senate confirmed Monday the appointment of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey as Deputy Attorney General. before the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
United States – June 19: President Pat Leahy, D-Vt., Right, and FBI Director, Robert Mueller head for a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Dirksen Building on FBI Watch. (Photo by Tom Williams / Roll call)
On August 1, 2013, outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller (C) delivered a speech to the Washington Department of Justice. On Monday, the US Senate confirmed former Attorney General James Comey, replacing Mueller, who has been running the office ever since. shortly before the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. United States Attorney General James Cole (FROM L), US Attorney General Eric Holder, former CIA Director George Tenet, and TSA Administrator, John Pistole, are also on stage. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 15: (LR) Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), US Attorney General, Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, John Morton, at the National Peace Officers Meeting Commemorative Ceremony at the US Capitol on May 15, 2013 in Washington, DC. Holder and other members of the Obama administration are criticized for information that the Internal Revenue Services was thoroughly reviewing the tax exemption requests of conservative organizations and the assignment two months of telephone reports from Associated Press reporters. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies before the hearing of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Capitol Hill, Washington, on June 13, 2013. Mueller said Thursday that the US government was doing everything what was in his power to hold the Ethiopian journalist Edward Snowden to account. secrets across the pages of newspapers around the world. REUTERS / Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL CRIME ACT)
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (left) receives FBI director Robert Mueller at his meeting in Kiev on June 5, 2013. REUTERS / Efrem Lukatsky / Pool (UKRAINE – Tags: POLITICS)
FBI director Robert Mueller (left) arrives Jan. 21, 2013 in Washington for the Obama presidential nomination on the western front of the US Capitol. President Barack Obama has been re-elected for a second term as President of the United States. The woman on the right is not identified. REUTERS / Win McNamee-POOL (USA)
WASHINGTON ,: FBI Director Robert Mueller answers questions raised by Congress on October 17, 2002 in Capitol Hill, Washington. Mueller was testifying before the last public hearing of the House of Sisters' Special Intelligence Committee and the Senate investigating the events leading up to September 11, 2001. AFP / Stephen JAFFE Photos (Photographic credits are as follows: STEPHEN JAFFE / AFP / Getty Images)
CIA Director Leon Panetta, National Intelligence Director James Clapper and FBI Director Robert Mueller testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Capitol Hill, Washington, DC on 16 February 2011. REUTERS / Jason Reed (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS)
399994 02: Robert Mueller, FBI Director, visits the US Military Complex at Kandahar Airport on January 23, 2002 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Mueller had lunch with FBI officials and Haji Gulali, commander of the Kandahar region. (Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images)
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Robert Mueller (left), at the national anthem, along with Attorney General Eric Holder (right) and Deputy Attorney General James Cole ( right) at a farewell ceremony in Mueller's honor at the Department of Justice on August 1, 2013. Mueller retires from the FBI after 12 years of service as a director. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (The photo credit should match SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty Images)
399994 01: Robert Mueller, FBI Director, greets US forces at the US military site at Kandahar Airport on January 23, 2002 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Mueller had lunch with FBI officials and Haji Gulali, commander of the Kandahar region. (Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – JUNE 19: FBI Director Robert Mueller in the center speaks with President Pat Leahy, on the right, and Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, before a Senate committee charged with magistrate at Dirksen FBI. (Photo by Tom Williams / Roll call)
UNITED STATES – JUNE 06: MONITORING SURVEILLANCE ON COUNTERTERRORISM – Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., Speaker of the Senate of the Judiciary, Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, and Senator Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, before the hearing. (Photo by Scott J. Ferrell / Congressional Quarterly / Getty Images)
HIDE CAPTION
SHOW CAPTION
In April, Mueller had published an article in which it was discovered that Russia had intervened in the 2016 US presidential election and that the campaign team of Republican President Donald Trump had had many contacts with officials Russian.
But the report found insufficient evidence to establish a criminal plot between the campaign and Moscow.
Mueller, in his first public comments since the start of the two-year investigation, said on May 29 that his investigation would never result in criminal charges against Trump and that it belonged to Congress to decide whether or not he should be dismissed.
"If we had confidence that the president had clearly not committed a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said.
The judiciary and intelligence groups led by US representatives Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff conduct their own investigations into Russia's interference and possible interference. (Report by David Morgan and Doina Chiacu, edited by Bernadette Baum)
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