House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler confirmed that he is preparing to issue a subpoena targeting Attorney General William Barr.
The New York Democrat joined MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for an interview on Monday night amid reports that he was getting ready to subpoena the Trump administration official for a hearing in July.
“We have begun the process to issue that subpoena. Yes, it is very much true. We are doing that,” Nadler said when asked about the reports.
Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the committee, referenced the plans in a letter obtained by Axios earlier in the day.
“Today your staff indicated that you intend to issue a subpoena to Attorney General William P. Barr for testimony at a Committee hearing on July 2, 2020,” Jordan wrote to Nadler. “The Attorney General had previously agreed to appear voluntarily in March, before you cancelled the hearing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Attorney General Barr remains willing to testify voluntarily once the pandemic concludes.”
“Accordingly, there is no legitimate basis for you to compel his testimony at this time,” he added.
The expected subpoena follows last week’s firing of the U.S. for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who was investigating President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. Nadler’s committee has also invited Berman to testify and believes he will do so. It is unclear when he will appear.
Democrats, some of whom have demanded an investigation into the firing of the attorney, indicated that they expect Barr to ignore the subpoena.
