Amid efforts by the House Judiciary Committee to nail down a "tentative date" for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify under oath about his two-year investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and accusations about President Donald Trump's possible obstruction of justice efforts related to that probe, the president himself weighed in forcefully on Sunday afternoon by saying Mueller should not testify.

"After spending more than $35,000,000 over a two year period, interviewing 500 people, using 18 Trump Hating Angry Democrats & 49 FBI Agents - all culminating in a more than 400 page Report showing NO COLLUSION - why would the Democrats in Congress now need Robert Mueller to testify," Trump tweeted.

He then added: "Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion? There was no crime, except on the other side (incredibly not covered in the Report), and NO OBSTRUCTION. Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!"

....to testify. Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion? There was no crime, except on the other side (incredibly not covered in the Report), and NO OBSTRUCTION. Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2019

Journalist Josh Dawsey noted that the president's declaration was in direct contradiction to what Attorney General William Barr has recently indicated about Mueller testifying before Congress:

Trump says on Twitter that he opposes Bob Mueller testifying. Will that change the position of AG Barr, who said he had no problems with it? Barr has pleased the president with his public comments and actions during the probe. SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox.





— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 5, 2019

Kyle Griffin of NBC News pointed out that on Friday, Trump said it would be up to Barr whether or not Mueller would be cleared by the Justice Department to testify:

Trump just said on Friday that it's up to A.G. Barr whether or not Mueller should testify. Now, in his new tweet, he makes it clear that he actually doesn't want Mueller to testify. If the report shows what Trump claims it shows, then why would he not want Mueller to testify? pic.twitter.com/0YJhRWi9ZK — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 5, 2019

Meanwhile, one observer responded on Twitter: "Okay so this is obstruction of the investigation into obstruction of the obstruction investigation."