In a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has given Barr until 9 a.m., Monday May 6th, to comply with a committee subpoena that demanded the full unredacted Special Counsel Robert Mueller Report.
The letter comes a day after Barr failed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee hearing as well as failing to provide the committee with the subpoenaed “unredacted Mueller report, the documents it cites, and other underlying materials.”
Nadler explains that “the Committee remains willing to negotiate a reasonable accommodation with the Department,” in order for the committee to view the subpoenaed material.
- The committee requests that the Department reconsider its refusal to allow all Members of Congress and appropriate staff to view redacted portions of the report that are not subject to Rule 6(e) [Grand Jury Rule].
- Request the Department work jointly with Congress to seek a court order permitting disclosure of materials covered by Rule 6(e).
- The Committee is willing to prioritize a specific, defined set of underlying investigative and evidentiary materials for immediate production.
- As indicated in the instructions subpoena, we are also prepared to discuss limiting and prioritizing our request in item 3 of the subpoena [all documents obtained and investigative materials by the Special Counsel’s Office, subpoena PDF pg. 3]
Nadler goes on to explain that “accommodation requires negotiations,” by both the Department of Justice and Congress, he adds, that Barr’s “proposed conditions are a departure from accommodations made by previous Attorneys General of both parties.”
He then writes, “it cannot go unremarked that, in refusing to comply with congressional oversight, the Department has repeatedly asserted that Congress’s request do not serve “legitimate” purposes,” he adds that “this is not the Departments judgement to make.
He concludes that “the Committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the Department,” however, “if the department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena,” he is prepared to move to contempt proceedings.
After the hearing on Thursday that Barr declined to appear for, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) walked reporters through the contempt process.
During Wednesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Barr explained that he had not reviewed the underlying evidence after he “grappled” with the word “suggestion.”
