Robert Mueller public hearing to be delayed until July 24

United States Special Counsel Robert Mueller will testify before two US House panels on Russia probe on July 24, one week later than previously scheduled.

"We have agreed to postpone the hearing for one week, until July 24," Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a joint statement issued by the House Democrats on Friday.

"The House Judiciary Committee will convene on July 24 at 8:30 a.m. with Special Counsel Mueller testifying in public for three hours. After a brief break, the House Intelligence Committee will convene for additional public testimony beginning at 12:00 p.m.," the chairmen said in a statement cited by CNN.

"All members - Democrats and Republicans - of both committees will have a meaningful opportunity to question the Special Counsel in public, and the American people will finally have an opportunity to hear directly from Mr Mueller about what his investigation uncovered," it read.

Attorney General William Barr had expressed a desire this week that the deputies need not testify, and the Justice Department was resisting their appearances.

Mueller had been scheduled to appear on July 17 before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees in back-to-back sessions where 22 members from each committee would get to question the special counsel.

Mueller had announced his resignation in May from the Justice Department after delivering his first public statement since the end of his 22-month long investigation.

A redacted version of the Mueller report had concluded that there was no conspiracy between President Donald Trump campaign and Moscow. But Mueller declined to make a judgment on whether Trump obstructed justice, though the report outlined 10 instances in which Trump tried to impede the investigation.