Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says Trump May Try To Keep Robert Mueller From Testifying Trump tweeted this weekend that the special counsel shouldn’t speak to Congress, catching his attorney general off guard. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested Tuesday that President Donald Trump may well try to block special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before Congress. Speaking on ABC’s podcast “The Investigation,” Sanders put some additional weight behind Trump’s tweets this weekend in which he said, in no uncertain terms, “Bob Mueller should not testify.” “I think that’s a determination to be made,” she said. “At this point, I think it’s the president’s ... 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.” Trump’s tweets reportedly caught his own inner circle off guard, contradicting as they did Attorney General William Barr’s statements on the matter. As Politico reports, if Mueller is still on the Justice Department payroll, Trump could conceivably limit his testimony by invoking executive privilege. But the department doesn’t have nearly as much sway over a private citizen, former Obama Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller told Politico. “I know of no instance where the department has been able to affirmatively restrain anyone from executing their First Amendment rights,” Miller said, “especially if they were responding to a lawful subpoena.”
The general principle is that individual prosecutors cannot be hauled before congress. Separation of powers. They answer to the AG and ultimately the president, not congress. Similarly the special counsel law makes it quite clear that the SC reports to the AG, not congress. Trump has every right to bar Mueller from testifying. If necessary he may have to go to court and have Mueller enjoined from testifying. Or better yet, just arrest him and his staff. Chapter VI. OFFICES OF INDEPENDENT COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Part 600. GENERAL POWERS OF SPECIAL COUNSEL Section 600.8. Notification and reports by the Special Counsel. ... . (b)Notification of significant events. The Special Counsel shall notify the Attorney General of events in the course of his or her investigation in conformity with the Departmental guidelines with respect to Urgent Reports. (c)Closing documentation. At the conclusion of the Special Counsel's work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/600.8