House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has a new proposition for Attorney General William Barr concerning special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report.
The panel initially subpoenaed the Justice Department for the entire unredacted report and all supplementary documents by May 1, but the Justice Department failed to comply.
As a result, Nadler is requesting the Justice Department permit more members of Congress to view a less-redacted version of Mueller’s report and invited the Justice Department to accompany Congress in seeking a court order that would allow lawmakers to view grand jury material that is unavailable to the public.
Nadler also said the panel is “willing to prioritize a specific, defined set of underlying investigative and evidentiary materials for immediate production.”
If Barr fails to respond by 9 a.m. on Monday, Nadler warned contempt proceedings would advance.
“[T]he department has offered no reason whatsoever for failing to produce the evidence underlying the report, except for a complaint that there is too much of it and a vague assertion about the sensitivity of law enforcement files,” Nadler wrote in a letter to Barr on Friday.
“The Committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the Department,” Nadler wrote. “But if the Department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena, the Committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse.”
Barr was slated to appear before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday, but failed to appear because Democrats on the committee were seeking an additional hour of questioning from staff lawyers. Barr did testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week.
