The House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday it will hold votes Wednesday to find Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
“The attorney general’s failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report,” committee chairman Rep. JerryoldNadler, D-N.Y., said.
Nadler said last week he would make one last “good faith” attempt at negotiating with Barr on terms under which he could testify before the committee about his handling of Mueller’s report.
Barr declined to show up for a hearing on Friday after Democrats demanded staff lawyers be allowed to question Barr.
Nadler has also issued a subpoena for the full, unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence for any instances of possible obstruction of justice by President Trump, which Barr has not responded to.
“Attorney General Barr failed to comply with the Committee’s request for these documents and thereby has hindered the Committee’s constitutional, oversight, and legislative functions,” Nadler said in a resolution filed Monday.
Defenders of Barr, including Trump, have dismissed Nadler and other Congressional Democrats as harassing both the judicial and executive branch of Trump’s government and overreaching in their oversight function.
[Related: Kevin McCarthy jumps to William Barr’s defense: Jerry Nadler is the liar]
The attorney general did testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, a hearing during which Republicans questioned him about the origins of Mueller’s investigation and Democrats accused him of protecting the president from the release of embarrassing details in the report scrutiny.
“The report is laden with factual information that has never been subjected to adversarial testing or independent analysis,” the White House legal counsel wrote in a letter last week. “(Justice Department officials) should not be in the business of creating ‘road maps’ for the purpose of transmitting them to committees.”
The top Republican on the panel immediately denounced the move and questioned Nadler’s motives for moving on contempt while Barr is still working with the panel on providing more of the redacted report.
“Chairman Nadler knows full subpoena compliance requires Attorney General Barr to break the law,” Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., said. “Yet, instead of introducing legislation allowing the attorney general to provide Congress grand jury material, Democrats move to hold him in contempt. They know the Justice Department is working to negotiate even as they pursue contempt charges, making their move today illogical and disingenuous. Democrats have launched a proxy war smearing the attorney general when their anger actually lies with the President and the special counsel, who found neither conspiracy nor obstruction.”
