Mueller pushes Congress to hold public Russia hearings — because he doesn’t trust GOP to share info

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller doesn't want key witnesses in Congress's probes into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election to get away with hiding behind closed doors.

CNN reports that Mueller's team "has urged Congress to schedule testimony of some key witnesses in public session -- to avoid the possibility that the special counsel may be blocked from accessing information given to the committees privately."

So far, however, Congressional investigators have only scheduled private hearings with witnesses such as Donald Trump Jr., who in a 2016 email enthusiastically endorsed a plan to work with the Russian government to unearth damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Complicating matters, says CNN, is the fact that Mueller's team has mostly kept Congress out of the loop when it comes to new findings and developments in its investigation.

That said, sources tell CNN that the Senate Intelligence Committee is debating whether to hold public hearings with some witnesses during hearings this fall. Additionally, the committee "is now searching for new details around the late Republican operative Peter Smith, who claimed he tried to obtain Clinton emails hacked by the Russians during the last election season."