Judicial Committee Seizes Contempt Vote for Attorney General Barr: NPR

The Judiciary Committee of the House announced Monday morning that it would begin contempt proceedings against Attorney General William Barr this week.

The committee is considering emphasizing the Attorney General's refusal to comply with a subpoena to appear before Congress, demanding the Mueller's full and unedited report.

A vote on the opportunity to judge Barr for contempt will be scheduled for Wednesday at 10 am, but the committee said it could postpone the proceedings if the Department of Justice responded to their subpoena.

"If the Ministry presents us with a bona fide offer regarding access to the full report and the underlying evidence, I reserve the right to defer these proceedings," said Democratic Committee Chair Jerry Nadler.

In a 27-page report to the press, Democrats on the committee said its members needed more access to fulfill its legislative and oversight functions.

"[T]The committee must review the unexpurgated report, the underlying evidence and related documents in order to be able to establish the facts and consider the next steps, "the report states.The Nadler report also mentions the constitutional powers under the Constitution. Article 1 of the Congress: "This includes the point of knowing whether to approve acts of impeachment concerning the president or any other person in charge of the administration, as well as the l & # 39; review of other measures such as censorship or the issuance of criminal, civil or administrative referrals. "

The panel was beaten for a week with the Department of Justice to gain access to Mueller's report.

"The fact that the Attorney General has not complied with our subpoena, after many adjustment efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to to enforce the assignment and to have access to the unredacted full report, "Nadler said.

The Justice Department has offered a limited number of legislators access to a less redacted version of the report, but Democrats have rejected this offer.

Barr argued that the regulations prohibited him from disclosing grand jury documents to anyone, including members of Congress.

And last week the Attorney General refused to testify before the committee to discuss the Mueller report. Discussions failed on the format of Barr's testimony – the Democrats of the Committee had sought to include the option of having the attorney interviewed by staff lawyers.

The representative of Georgia, Doug Collins, R-Ga., The main Republican of the committee, said in a statement that if Barr delivered the documents, the Democrats demanded that the Attorney General break the law.

"They know that the Department of Justice is using them to negotiate even if they are being sued for contempt, making their approach illogical and hypocritical today." Democrats launched a defamatory proxy war the Attorney General while their anger is actually based on the President neither conspiracy nor obstruction, "Collins said in a written statement.

Nadler tentatively scheduled May 15 an audition of special advocate Robert Mueller so that he testified to his findings. But in a tweet On Sunday, President Trump reversed his earlier position and said Mueller should not agree to appear before the committee.