House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.) made good on his promise to hold 68-year-old Atty. Gen. William Barr in Contempt of Congress for refusing to testify, but, more importantly, failing to release the full, unredacted Mueller Report. Since 74-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller released his two-year-in-the making 440-page report on Russian meddling and alleged collusion by 72-year-pld President Donald Trump March 22, Democrats went wild after Barr released his four-page summary March 24. Summarizing the bottom line of Mueller’s report, Barr cleared Trump or anyone in his campaign of Russian collusion and concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice. Democrats in the House Judiciary, Intelligence and Oversight Committees rejected Mueller’s findings, demanding Barr release the full unredacted version with all its underlying evidence.
Barr released the full, redacted Mueller report April 28 prompting more demands from Nadler, Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cumminges (D-Md.) to release the full unredacted Mueller Report with all its underlying evidence. When Barr released the redacted report April 28, it conformed with strict Justice Department [DOJ] rules, knowing that the Special Counsel law required Mueller to present the report only to the Attorney General. House members were all informed about Mueller’s obligation to release the report to Barr, not to Congress or the public. Yet Congress accused Barr of “covering-up” the real findings only found in Mueller unredacted report. Nadler, Schiff and Cummings have now weaponized Congress’s oversight responsibility, usurping the Special Counsel’s authority as the primary trier-of-fact to draw the final conclusions.
Once Trump was vindicated of collusion and obstruction of justice, the Democrat-led Congress went into overdrive to prove Mueller wrong. Yet throughout the 22-month investigation, Congressional Democrats insisted they’d accept Mueller’s findings. Seeking the full, unredated Mueller Report, Democrats look to cherry pick Mueller’s findings, drawing their own conclusions about Trump’s alleged criminal behavior. Congressional Democrats want it both ways: Accepting Mueller’s report and reinterpreting his finding to meet their political agenda. Democrats hoped Mueller would find Trump guilty of collusion and obstruction by Mueller. When that didn’t happen, Democrats wanted to reach their own conclusions, including whether or not to impeach Trump. Nadler, Schiff and Cummings refuse to accept the Mueller Report, because it lets Trump off the hook.
Before Nadler led the Judiciary Committee today to cite Barr for Contempt of Congress, Trump asserted executive privilege, preventing Democrats from continuing to weaponize their Article 1, oversight powers. Voting 24-16 in the Judiciary Committee to cite Barr with Contempt of Congress, Nadler insisted the president has caused a constitutional crisis. “We’ve talked for a long time about approaching a constitutional crisis. We are now it,” Nadler said. But the only constitutional crisis involves Nadler, Schiff and Cummings weaponizing their committees to advance a political agenda to damage the president in the 2020 election. Nadler insists he’s defending the House’s Article 2 authority but what he’s really doing is Congressional overreach, now harassment. Mueller’s report was supposed to be the final word on collusion and obstruction, not House committees.
Nadler says Barr is “turning the entire Department of Justice into an instrument of Trump personally,” insisting Barr only defends the president. But all Barr has done is faithfully summarize Mueller’s findings March 24, then turn over the full, redacted report, as he promised, to Congress April 28. “We did not relish this [contempt citation] but we had no choice,” Nadler said. Nadler had to because the Democratic National Committee demands that Congress keep the Mueller Report going until the 2020 election. Pretending it’s a turf war between Congress and the White House, Nadler camouflages his real motive to damage Trump before the 2020 election. Nadler, Schiff and Cummings think Congress has the authority under Article 1 to abuse its oversight authority. “Our fight is about defending the rights of Congress, as an independent branch, to hold the president accountable,” Nadler said.
Nadler, Schiff and Cummings have called Barr a liar for going beyond the Special Counsel law to release the Mueller Report to Congress. “Bill Barr is following the law, and what’s his reward?” Democrats are going to hold him in contempt,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.). “This is all about impeaching the president,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.), after Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) raised impeaching the president. Democrats reject the Mueller Report because it clears Trump of collusion and obstruction. House Democrats want to cherry pick the Mueller Report to draw their own conclusions, refusing to accept the Special Counsel’s findings. Nadler knows that his subpoena to get the full, unredacted report with its underlying evidence violates criminal procedure and DOJ rules. Nadler wants Barr to defy his subpoena and Trump to assert executive privilege to scream cover-up to the media.
