DOJ must give Congress Mueller grand jury evidence, appeals court rules

An appeals court has ruled that the Justice Department has to provide Congress with some secret grand jury evidence from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of House Democrats who are suing to access redacted material from the Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election as they continue to investigate President Trump, The Washington Post reports. This upholds a lower court ruling.

Previously, Judge Beryl Howell ruled in October that the Department of Justice needed to hand over the grand jury material to Congress. Since then, President Trump was acquitted in the Senate's impeachment trial that centered around his push for Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, though CNN notes the House has said it "could still consider impeaching Trump again because of his actions during the Mueller investigation."

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The Associated Press writes that Tuesday's decision on the grand jury information "softens the blow" for Democrats of the court recently deciding not to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress.

The Post notes, though, that Tuesday's ruling is "unlikely to be the final word" on this issue, as it "can be appealed to the full court or to the Supreme Court."