days before he was announced as trump's choice to be director of national intelligence, ratcliffe drew headlines for his questioning of robert mueller during mueller's congressional testimony. ratcliffe criticized mueller for describing instances of obstruction of justice in his report on russian interference in the 2016 election. ratcliffe claimed that mueller went beyond the rules for special counsels, by covering instances of potential obstruction when the report did not charge any crimes. the associated press and politifact found ratcliffe's claim false, noting that special prosecutors are required by federal regulations to explain decisions not to prosecute. neal katyal, who wrote the special counsel regulations in 1999, called ratcliffe "dead wrong."