President Donald Trump's complaint came an hour-and-a-half before Robert Mueller is scheduled to take his place before the Judiciary Committee, where he will answer questions for roughly three hours. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images White House 'NOT agreed to': Trump hammers Mueller for bringing deputy to hearings

President Donald Trump complained Wednesday morning about Robert Mueller’s last-minute request to have one of his top deputies appear alongside him during the former special counsel’s testimony before Congress, declaring that he “would NEVER have agreed to” such a stipulation.

“It was NEVER agreed that Robert Mueller could use one of his many Democrat Never Trumper lawyers to sit next to him and help him with his answers,” the president wrote on Twitter. “This was specifically NOT agreed to, and I would NEVER have agreed to it. The Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history, by far!”


Aaron Zebley, an investigator in Mueller’s 22-month-long probe who served as chief of staff to Mueller when he was FBI director, is expected to join his former boss Wednesday during a pair of highly anticipated hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee.

Republicans on the Judiciary committee, before which Zebley will act as Mueller’s counsel, have objected to the surprise move, and Attorney General William Barr has previously stated that Mueller’s subordinates should not testify. But GOP lawmakers on the Intelligence committee have not yet expressed opposition, and Zebley will be formally sworn in as a witness before that panel.

Trump’s Justice Department on Monday instructed Mueller to not deviate from the public findings in his report during his testimony — a guidance Barr said Tuesday came at Mueller’s request. Mueller had already stated his intention to stay within the parameters of the report during a May news conference, when he told reporters: “We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself. The report is my testimony.”

It is unclear whether Justice Department officials will move Wednesday to thwart Zebley’s appearance before lawmakers.

Trump earlier Wednesday had already weighed in on Mueller’s testimony, perhaps the highest-profile turn yet in the special counsel's years-long investigation into Russian efforts to interfere on the president's behalf in the 2016 election, as well as allegations that Trump obstructed justice.

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Inline Module: Playbook“So Democrats and others can illegally fabricate a crime, try pinning it on a very innocent President, and when he fights back against this illegal and treasonous attack on our Country, they call It Obstruction? Wrong!” Trump wrote online. “Why didn’t Robert Mueller investigate the investigators?”

The president’s post came an hour-and-a-half before Mueller is scheduled to take his place before the Judiciary Committee, where he will answer questions for roughly three hours. Mueller will then testify before the Intelligence committee for another two hours, with the dual sessions set to conclude by the afternoon.

Democrats on the Judiciary committee will quiz Mueller on potential episodes of obstruction of justice by the president outlined in his 448-page report, while the Intelligence committee’s Democrats are likely to ask about the Kremlin’s meddling and contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign.

Republicans are expected to interrogate Mueller extensively on his investigation's origins — the president and his allies have long argued that the special counsel's probe was illegitimate — as well as alleged political bias by Mueller's team, which Trump has claimed was stocked with Democrats even though the special counsel himself is a registered Republican.

The president previewed that line of questioning Tuesday, tweeting: "Why didn’t Robert Mueller & his band of 18 Angry Democrats spend any time investigating Crooked Hillary Clinton, Lyin’ & Leakin’ James Comey, Lisa Page and her Psycho lover, Peter S, Andy McCabe, the beautiful Ohr family, Fusion GPS, and many more, including HIMSELF & Andrew W?"

Trump went on to post about his consideration of Mueller to take over as FBI director after James Comey was fired from the role in May 2017. That ouster provoked in part the decision by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to name Mueller special counsel a week later.

"It has been reported that Robert Mueller is saying that he did not apply and interview for the job of FBI Director (and get turned down) the day before he was wrongfully appointed Special Counsel," Trump wrote online. "Hope he doesn’t say that under oath in the we have numerous witnesses to the ... interview, including the Vice President of the United States!"

The president added: "NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION!"