WASHINGTON, DC — A panel of House lawmakers voted along party lines Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress even after President Donald Trump asserted executive privilege to prevent them from seeing an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s full Russia report.
The Trump administration’s refusal to hand over the full document presented a “constitutional crisis,” the House Judiciary Committee chairman said Wednesday, leaving the lawmakers no choice but to hold a contempt vote. The vote passed 24-16 around 4:30 p.m. and a full vote will be held on the floor of the entire House of Representatives, where Democrats hold a 38-seat majority.
Talks with the Justice Department broke down late Tuesday over the committee’s subpoena for the unredacted report, The Associated Press reported. Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York said the dispute posed “a constitution crisis” because Trump was “disobeying the law” and “refusing all information to Congress.”
The Justice Department in a letter to Nadler said Trump was asserting executive privilege “over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials.”
The protective assertion of executive privilege “ensures the President’s ability to make a final decision whether to assert privilege following a full review of these materials,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd wrote. He referenced both Mueller’s report and underlying evidence sought by House Democrats.
The assertion was Trump’s first use of the secrecy powers as president, The New York Times reported.
Trump exerts executive privilege over the entire Mueller report pic.twitter.com/llTFIY5S9y
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 8, 2019
Barr released a redacted version of the 448-page Mueller report in April. Democrats have sought the full version, saying they need it to execute an investigation into possible obstruction of justice and abuse of power by Trump.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said in a statement to the Times that
Americans “see through” what she called Nadler’s “desperate ploy” to distract from Trump’s agenda and the strong economy.
“Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler’s unlawful and reckless demands,” she said.
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