House Republicans seem to have forgotten they unanimously voted to release the Mueller report

Republican Members.
(Image credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images)

The House Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena the Mueller report on Wednesday — no thanks to Republicans who seemed to support it a few weeks ago.

The panel voted 24-17 to subpoena Attorney General William Barr for a full, unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference and President Trump's campaign. But it didn't come without a big stink — and some improvised prop usage — from committee Republicans.

House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) kicked off Wednesday's hearing by holding up copies of the Watergate and Starr inquiries, arguing there was a precedent for fully disclosing investigations into presidents. So Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) picked up some water bottles and made his own hard-to-follow comparison.

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Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) was up next, saying Democrats were only threatening the subpoena "because the Mueller report isn't what Democrats wanted it to be." "Have you seen [the report]? Because we haven't," Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) countered. Both of those Republicans — along with every other member of Congress, save for the four who just voted present — voted in mid-March on a nonbinding resolution to make the Mueller report public.

Nadler did say he'd give Barr "time to change his mind" and release the full report before serving him with a subpoena. If Barr refuses, it'll likely set up a lengthy court battle that dredges up a Supreme Court case from the Watergate era.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.