The contempt of Congress vote and what it means for William Barr, explained
House Democrats are upping the ante in their attempt to get special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report by threatening to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.
Frustrated by weeks of missed subpoena deadlines and pushback from the Trump administration, the House Judiciary Committee passed a contempt resolution along party lines on Wednesday, at the end of a lengthy and contentious hearing. The vote comes after Barr failed to deliver Mueller’s complete, unredacted report by a Monday deadline.
The contempt resolution would also have to be approved by the full House — which has an increased shot at passing now that an increasing number of Democrats are focusing their ire on Barr.
The vote comes after a couple of days of negotiations between top Judiciary members and the Department of Justice, which ultimately weren’t fruitful. In fact, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said the DOJ notified him last night that President Trump is asserting executive privilege to block the House from accessing the entire Mueller report and its underlying documents — the first time Trump has used his executive powers to protect portions of Mueller’s findings.
“I am concerned the department is heading in the wrong direction,” Nadler said Wednesday, calling it a “clear escalation” from Trump’s DOJ.
Barr’s main objection to releasing the full report is regulations that prohibit releasing grand jury material to members of Congress. The attorney general has offered Democrats a less redacted version of Mueller’s report, but they’ve so far rejected the offer. They want the full thing.
Contempt is another way for Congress to get subpoenaed documents, by asking the US attorney for the District of Columbia or the Department of Justice to charge Barr with criminal contempt for not complying with a congressional subpoena. In theory, a charge of contempt could result in a fine or jail time for the attorney general (though in reality, that likely won’t happen).
As serious as contempt sounds, it realistically won’t amount to more than Congress sending a powerful message — unless Democrats pass a different resolution to authorize suing Barr and the Trump administration to try to get the Mueller report. Passing a contempt resolution is essentially the first step in this process, and one Democrat on House Judiciary told Vox the House will likely proceed with that court case in the coming weeks.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-contempt-of-congress-vote-and-what-it-means-for-william-barr-explained/ar-AAB5rNp?li=BBnb7Kz
