Washington:
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller will be his own subject when he teaches a course on his eponymous investigation of president Donald Trump, the University of Virginia Law School announced Wednesday.
The school said the notably reticent former FBI chief and federal prosecutor, 76, will teach a class on special counsel investigations alongside three other members of his nearly two-year probe into connections between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
“I was fortunate to attend UVA Law School after the Marine Corps, and I’m fortunate to be returning there now,” Mueller said in the announcement. “I look forward to engaging with the students this fall.”
Since submitting the investigation’s final 448-page report in March 2019, Mueller has commented very little on it nor on how the controversial investigation operated.
The probe suggested repeated instances of collusion or attempted collusion between the campaign and Russian to interfere with the 2016 election.
It also made a strong case that Trump had illegally obstructed the investigation on multiple occasions.
It issued indictments for more than two dozen Russians and several Trump advisors.
But when it was presented to Trump-appointed attorney general Bill Barr, he immediately dismissed its conclusions as not enough to support any criminal complaints for conspiracy to work with Russia in election interference, or for obstruction.
Trump and his supporters branded the investigations as an unjustified and illegal witch hunt, while opponents of the president criticized Mueller for approaching the case too conservatively and allowing his cautious conclusions to be distorted by Trump and Barr.
Mueller defended his report, saying he was not tasked with charging Trump himself, and that it was up to Congress to decide whether to impeach the president.
He later testified before Congress about the investigation, but declined to say more than the report itself said.
He did indicate that he believed that Trump was not fully truthful in his answers to questions from the investigation, but he never challenged the answers.
And he said Trump “was not exculpated” by the report.
“It’s not a witch hunt,” he said.
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