In a letter, Rep. Jerrold Nadler said if the Justice Department “persists in its baseless refusal to comply” the committee will move toward contempt proceedings.
By Ellen Nakashima Ellen Nakashima National security reporter Email Bio Follow May 3 at 12:07 PM The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has given Attorney General William P. Barr one last shot to accommodate lawmakers seeking access to a more complete version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report before beginning contempt proceedings.
“The committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the department,” Nadler wrote. “But if the department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena, the committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse.” In a March 27 letter that surfaced this week Mueller complained to Barr that his four-page memo summarizing the report “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the special counsel’s work.
In his letter to Barr, Nadler said the Justice Department “has never explained why it is willing to allow only a small number of members to view a less-redacted version of the report, subject to the condition that they cannot discuss what they have seen with anyone else.” Finally, the committee Democrats want “a defined set” of investigative material, including witness interviews — known as “302s” — and contemporaneous notes taken by witnesses of relevant events. “Since these materials are publicly cited and described in the Mueller report, there can be no question about the committee’s need for and right to” the evidence to evaluate the facts Mueller established, Nadler wrote.
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