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According to constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley, Democrats in the House "are heading towards a world of wounds" as they intensify their fight with Attorney General Bill Barr to gain access to Robert Mueller's full report .
Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, issued this warning during a testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. When legislators questioned him, as well as other jurists, on matters relating to the privilege of the executive and the oversight exercised by Congress, Mr. Turley said that even though 39, it tends to give more weight to the power of Congress, it is certain that they will lose if they go to court to hold Barr in contempt not to publish the full report Mueller .
GOP & # 39; S REP. BIGGS: DEM LAWMAKER "FAILED BEANS" ON "DEMS": TRUE OBJECTIVES IN THE BARR HEARING
"You will end up in a world of injury if you go to the CC circuit," Turley warned.
House Democrats recently voted at committee level to condemn Barr for disregarding the refusal to publish a fully unwritten version of the Mueller Report and the underlying documents. As Barr did in the past, Turley pointed out that the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not allow him to disclose secret information from the grand jury that was redacted in the previously released version.
The CC circuit recently ruled on this very issue, stating in the McKeever v. Barring the specific exceptions described in Rule 6 (e), the courts do not have the power to order the disclosure of grand jury information. Since any lawsuit against Barr for contempt would likely end up in the DC circuit, Turley made it clear that this was a bad idea for Congress.
"There is no doubt that he can not disclose this information under Rule 6 (e)," Turley said, calling Barr's position "unassailable".
The professor said that Congress might be more fortunate in forcing witnesses to testify and in obtaining some of the underlying documents mentioned in the Mueller report, but he cautioned Democrats on some issues of privilege from the executive, which President Trump invoked to try to maintain power. secret material.
TRUMP BLOCKS CONGRESS FROM MUELLER'S COMPLETE REPORT
For example, Turley warned Democrats not to challenge Trump's assertion of executive privilege with respect to information shared with the special council office, which is part of executive power. He said that case law is strong on this issue.
"I strongly encourage you not to present this argument in federal court," he said.
House Democrats, however, insisted, accusing the Trump government of having hampered their efforts to learn more about Russia's investigation.
"We did not want to do that, but we have no choice," said committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, DN.Y., after the vote on contempt Court held earlier this month: "We have been talking for a long time about tackling a constitutional crisis – we are now in it."
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