House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) says he expects an upcoming series of hearings with various Trump Administration officials cited in or involved with the Mueller report will be televised, by C-SPAN at least and perhaps other outlets. C-SPAN confirmed that first part of that prediction. "Whatever happens we're going to be there," said C-SPAN's Peter Kiley. "We plan to continue to cover key Hill hearings," he said of the public service platform funded by the cable industry.
Nadler was asked about the hearings Friday on noncommercial WNYC FM's Brian Lehrer show, where he was also talking about his move to subpoena the full, unredacted, report of special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian election meddling and possible obstruction of justice by the President.
Nadler didn't talk about the timing but said there would be major hearings and that Attorney General Bill Barr, who is testifying May 2, and Mueller, are just the first witnesses. "We will call a lot of other people," he assured Lehrer and, in absentia, Steyer. "We will get to the bottom of this and educate the country about what is going on," he said.
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Hedge fund billionaire and anti-Trump activist Tom Steyer, who has been advocating for the President's impeachment almost since he was elected, has called for televised hearings, as has Common Cause. Steyer was also on Lehrer's show Friday, preceding Nadler, and said the Judiciary committee should call other witnesses, including Donald Trump Jr., and hold the hearings sooner rather than later, later being next month.
Lehrer also asked if the hearings would be televised. Nadler said since they were public hearings he assumed C-SPAN and others would carry, but in any event would be available for televising. The committees also regularly now stream their hearings online as a matter of course and public record.
Nadler said the hearings and report aren't necessarily a preamble to drawing up articles of impeachment, though he added it may get to that point. He said instead it was about what institutional safeguards were "gotten around" and what to do about it for the sake of the Congress and the people.
Attorney General Bill Barr has said he would give select members of Congress a less redacted version of the report than the one he released Thursday (April 18), but that is not good enough for Nadler, who tweeted the following tune-in info for an interview on noncommercial WNYC New York:
[embed]https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/1119262069751201800[/embed]
Nadler told host Brian Lehrer that he did not know whether Mueller would agree to testify, but said he expected him to by May 23. Of the subpoena, Nadler said it was clear Barr repeatedly mischaracterized the report, so he needs to see the whole thing. "We must have the underlying material," he said.
Asked what he hoped to learn from Mueller, Nadler said some context, including on the specific instances of potential obstruction of justice and to clarify just why Mueller did not make a decision on indictment.
