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Democratic Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island sparked confusion in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," where he suggested that Special counsel Robert Mueller had tentatively agreed to testify in mid-May.
Cicilline on Sunday said Mueller, through representatives, had reached a "tentative" agreement to testify before the committee on the report on the investigation he conducted into Russian election interference.
"A tentative date has been set of May 15, and we hope the special counsel will appear," Cicilline said on "Fox News Sunday."Cicilline added, "We think the American people have a right to hear directly from him."
When asked if Mueller had explicitly agreed to that date, the Democratic lawmaker said a "representative for the special counsel has, but, obviously, until the date comes, we never have an absolute guarantee."
Outlets including The Wall Street Journal and HuffPost quickly pushed out the news to readers, before Cicilline issued a clarifying tweet, writing "Just to clarify: we are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That's the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the Special Counsel will agree to it. Sorry for the confusion."
Cicilline also said the White House "has so far indicated they would not interfere with Mr. Mueller's attempts to testify."
A spokesperson for the special counsel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler had previously said the committee was looking to get Mueller to testify around May 15.Nadler's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER on whether Mueller's testimony would be public or closed door under the terms of the "tentative" agreement.
The special counsel's testimony is highly anticipated following the release of a redacted version of his report on the Russia probe.
Mueller first delivered the report to Attorney General William Barr in late March. Subsequently, Barr offered a four-page summary to Congress.
Though it was not reported until last week, Mueller soon thereafter wrote a letter to Barr criticizing the attorney general's summary of his report. The special counsel's letter said Barr's summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions."
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Barr said Mueller's letter was a "bit snitty."
Barr has faced unrelenting criticism from Democratic lawmakers for his handling of the report's rollout, and some have called for him to resign or be impeached.