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Donald Trump is now considering ordering the Justice Department to keep special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying to Congress about the Russia investigation he led.
“I think that's a determination to be made at this point,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told ABC News Tuesday of Trump's considerations regarding Mueller giving testimony. “But that's the president's feeling on the matter and the reason is because we consider this as a case closed as a finished process,” she added, echoing framing from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that Republicans view the matter as over.
It's a stunning reversal for Trump, who just last week indicated he would leave the matter of Mueller's testimony up to his attorney general, William Barr. Barr has said he has "no problem" with Mueller testifying. But over the weekend, Trump had a meltdown, tweeting that Mueller should not testify. "No redos for the Dems!” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets punctuated by all-caps no collusion, no obstruction claims.
The AP reports that Trump has been stewing over the amount of media coverage Mueller’s testimony would garner and that it might have a similar effect to that of Michael Cohen's testimony. It appears Trump is ready to go to the mat on total obstruction—even of Mueller’s testimony—as long as Barr is a good little boy and does his bidding.