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The leaders of the House Judiciary Committee agreed on Monday to call special counsel Robert Mueller to appear for a hearing. The question now is whether Mueller would agree.

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., the panel's ranking member, opened the bidding with a letter in which he asked the chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., to invite Mueller to testify later this month.

Although the committee expects to hear from Attorney General William Barr, Collins wrote, it must go to the source to learn all it needs to know about the special counsel inquiry. 

Collins asked Nadler, who leads the Democratic majority that has the power to convene hearings, to invite Mueller to appear during the week of April 22. 

 later in the day with a post that said he agrees Mueller should talk with the judiciary committee, but at the right time. 

But first, Nadler wants Mueller's work product -- all of it, including the underlying evidence in addition to the findings in his report -- and then Nadler wants to hear from Barr. Only then, the chairman said, would members be prepared to question the special counsel himself. 

https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/1115318246780043265

The Justice Department declined to comment on the requests by the members of Congress. 

If Mueller does appear for a public hearing, it could be a spectacle equal to or greater than that afforded by earlier witnesses such as 

 and others in the Russia imbroglio, some of whom brought life in parts of the U.S. to a standstill as Americans were transfixed by their testimony.

Despite one of the highest profile roles in official Washington in recent memory, Mueller is a sphinx. He has barely spoken in public since 

 and his office has made very few comments in the press.

Mostly the special counsel's office has let its work do the talking, including in 

criminal charges against more than 30 individuals

 and, most recently, in a more than 400-page report that was briefly 

That was where Barr wrote that Mueller's investigation did not establish a conspiracy between President Trump's campaign and 

the Russian interference in the 2016 election

, did Mueller establish that Trump had committed 

 in the way he dealt with investigators, although the nature of that conclusion has raised many questions from Democrats.

That's why Nadler and his colleagues say they're so eager to see Mueller's full findings and discoveries, without relying on the interpretation provided by the attorney general. 

Barr has said his office is working on redacting Mueller's report so that sensitive and confidential information can be excised and a copy given to Congress and the public, perhaps sometime within the next two weeks. 

Nadler and Democrats say they won't be satisfied with a redacted copy; they want Mueller's full conclusions and his full supporting material. Judiciary committee members have 

Crime, Law and Justice

Politics and Government News

The Democratic chairman and the Republican ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee say they agree that they want to hear from Robert Mueller. But silence endures from the Justice Department.

House Judiciary leaders unite in call for Mueller hearing; unclear if he'd appear

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