DOJ threatens war with Congress over Mueller report
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, at a hearing March 28. 2019 (Video screenshot)
Democrats in Congress who are demanding material from U.S. Attorney General William Barr that he is by law forbidden from releasing face a new dilemma.
Barr already has voluntarily released essentially all of the material from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 Russia collusion claims that he is authorized to make public.
What’s left mostly is grand jury material, which by law cannot be released.
That, however, did not stop Democratic House leaders from issuing a subpoena and voting for a contempt of Congress citation when Barr refused to testify.
Democrats are infuriated that the Mueller report found the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia.
But now, the Washington Examiner reports, Justice Department officials are warning House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., that if the House moves to punish Barr, the DOJ no longer with cooperate on make more of the Mueller report available.
The Examiner reported that in a letter sent Tuesday to Schiff from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, the Justice Department proposed a meeting this week with the House Intelligence panel’s senior staff. The DOJ, the report said, is seeking a compromise in response to 12 requests made by the committee.
But Boyd warned that the meeting won’t happen if the committee decides to punish Barr.
“Should the committee take the precipitous and unnecessary action of recommending a contempt finding or other enforcement action against the attorney general, then the department will not likely to be able to continue to work with the committee to accommodate its interest in these materials,” the letter said.
The Examiner said Boyd confirmed members of Congress could gain access to “information pertaining to counterintelligence and foreign-intelligence activities” that are referenced in the Mueller report, but not fully released.
WND reported earlier this month the Democrats fear that if they don’t remove Trump from office, he will win re-election in 2020.
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