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WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee will vote Wednesday to declare Attorney General William P. Barr contempt of Congress, after the Justice Department appeared to miss Monday's deadline to negotiate the release of the full report of Robert S. Mueller III, as well as the main evidence gathered by the Special Council.
Democrats said the vote could still be avoided if the Justice Department changed course, but Monday's announcement created a dramatic new escalation in a growing dispute between the legislature and the executive. If the entire House followed the procedure and voted for Mr. Barr to be found guilty of contempt of Congress, it would only be the second time in American history that a member of the cabinet of a sitting president was thus sanctioned by the legislator.
The chairman of the Judicial Commission, New York representative Jerrold Nadler, said the vote would take place at 10 am A 27-page report accompanying the vote on Monday recommended that Mr. Barr "be found guilty of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena."
[Read the contempt resolution here.]
The Democratic-controlled panel will almost certainly vote in favor of contempt if the Justice Department does not respond to Democrats' demands before Wednesday. The Plenary Chamber should then hold a vote. We do not know when it will happen.
"Even in redacted form, the Special Council's report presents disturbing evidence and analyzes showing that President Trump has delivered himself to obstructing justice at the highest level," Nadler said in a statement. a statement. "Congress needs to see the full report and the underlying evidence to determine how best to move forward on oversight, legislation and other constitutional responsibilities."
Mr Nadler's accompanying report stated, inter alia, "that it was necessary to approve or not the acts of dismissal of the President or any other person responsible for the administration, as well as the taking into account of other measures such as censorship or administrative references. "
The dispute over Mr. Mueller's access to work is only one of an increasing number of confrontations between House investigators and President Trump and his administration that threaten to lead to democratic hearings and democratic investigations.
Trump said Sunday that he was opposed to Mr. Mueller testifying before the Judiciary Committee – exerting further pressure on Barr, who had already expressed his willingness to let the lawyer special appear, to put pressure on the president.
The Treasury Department is also expected to inform Monday the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Massachusetts Representative, Richard E. Neal, to prevent him from accessing Mr. Trump's tax returns, requested by Mr. Neal under a provision of the tax code.
The judicial commission had set Monday the deadline for the delivery of exhibits, but the Ministry of Justice refused to respond, citing concerns of the court of law. 39 political interference in his investigations and asking whether the commission had a valid legislative objective.
Friday, Mr. Nadler wrote one last time to the Attorney General try to revive the discussions and open the door to possible concessions from Democrats. Democrats said its deadline came and went Monday morning without a significant response.
The Department of Justice did not immediately comment on the timing of the contempt vote.
The Republicans of the Judiciary Committee protested against the project of the Democrats. The Republican representative of the Georgian group Doug Collins, the republican representative of the group, called it "illogical and hypocritical" and suggested that the Justice Ministry "was still working to negotiate".
"The Democrats have launched a proxy war that slanders the Attorney General while their anger hangs over the President and the Special Council, who found no conspiracy or obstruction," Collins said.
A contempt decision would have a double impact on the Democrats: it would mark Mr. Barr's case and plead the dispute in the courts, where a judge might decide to force the administration to hand over the documents. But it could take months and affect the pace and scope of Democratic investigations.
The action of the committee has a precedent. House Republicans chose to pursue contempt in 2012 after being separated by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
In the Holder case, the House had assigned emails from the Department of Justice to review internal deliberations on how to respond to inquiries from Congress regarding the investigation into "Fast and Furious" weapons traffic. President Barack Obama invoked the executive's privilege on the records, saying it would divert the franchise from the internal deliberations of the executive power if officials knew that Congress could get their emails on it.
Rejecting this claim of privilege, the House asked the Department of Justice to sue Mr. Holder, which she quickly refused. But the House also initiated a lawsuit asking a judge to apply the summons to appear. In this dispute, the Obama administration has lost several important decisions.
First, the judge rejected his offer to withhold all admissible documents with a claim of general privilege instead of having to explain why each one met the standards. Then the judge ruled that the privilege of the executive had been lifted because the Inspector General of the Department of Justice had issued a public report citing many of the same emails that the Congress was seeking.
The Obama administration is complying with these decisions rather than appealing its losses, but the process has taken years to unfold.
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