Not many people have spent the past decade studying the life and work of Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who served most recently as special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Journalist Garrett Graff, however, did just that, and it gives him a unique perspective of the man whose historic report has the potential to create upheaval for the Trump administration.
In a wide-ranging interview with WGBH News, Graff suggested that Robert Mueller was thinking strategically when he handed over his report to a Trump appointee, knowing that a subpoena may be the only way Congress would gain access to the full report.
"I mean, it is literally laughable that Bob Mueller didn't anticipate these potential objections," Graff said. "And so while I certainly understand that [Attorney General William] Barr probably wants to take his own time to go through what we now believe is a report somewhere between 300 and 400 pages total, Mueller is probably far ahead of Barr in thinking through those questions."
Since the interview with Graff, which took place on Tuesday, the latest addition to this developing story is that the Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted to authorize a subpoena that will force Barr to hand over an unredacted copy of the special counsel’s report.
The House Judiciary Committee also voted to give its chairman, Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), future subpoena power to collect evidence from former Trump Administration staff, including Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks and Reince Priebus.
Phillip Martin's interview as well as Garrett Graff's talk, "Decoding the Mueller Investigation," were recorded by WGBH's Forum Network.
