House Democrats are moving forward with a contempt citation for Attorney General William Barr
Attorney General William Barr missed — or, possibly, ignored — the House Judiciary Committee's Monday morning deadline for turning over an unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on his investigation into 2016 Russian election interference, as well as the underlying evidence.
As a result, Congress on Wednesday will consider a contempt citation against Barr, who also did not attend a scheduled hearing before the Judiciary Committee last Thursday. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Barr's failure to comply with the requests leaves Congress "with no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings."
The Justice Department, however, has remained opposed to the subpoenas for an unredacted report on principle, arguing that they represent illegitimate congressional oversight, Politico reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Georgia), the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, said Nadler's decision on contempt is "illogical and disingenuous" because the Justice Department is still negotiating with the committee on how to proceed. Collins called the situation a "proxy war" and that the committee's Democrats are simply taking out their anger at President Trump and Mueller on Barr, who Collins said would be breaking the law if he fulfilled the subpoena requests. The Justice Department has stated that revealing grand jury material in response to congressional oversight is illegal, The Washington Post reports.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
How drones have detected a deadly threat to Arctic whalesUnder the radar Monitoring the sea in the air
-
A running list of the US government figures Donald Trump has pardonedin depth Clearing the slate for his favorite elected officials
-
Ski town strikers fight rising cost of livingThe Explainer Telluride is the latest ski resort experiencing an instructor strike
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
