House Plans to Subpoena Mueller Report

What’s the story?

• The House Judiciary Committee plans to begin authorizing subpoenas for the full report by special counsel Robert Mueller on April 3 if it’s not released voluntarily.
• In a letter to Attorney General William Barr, the chairs of six congressional committees told Barr they’d prefer to avoid this “compulsory process,” but will issue the subpoenas if necessary.

“Congress can and has historically been provided with sensitive, unredacted, and classified material that cannot be provided to the general public,” the lawmakers wrote. “In addition, the American people deserve to be fully informed about these issues of extraordinary public interest, and therefore need to see the report and findings in Special Counsel Mueller’s own words to the fullest extent possible.”

• The letter was signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (NY), Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (MD), House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (MA), Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters (CA), Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (MA), and Foreign Affairs Chair Eliot Engel (NY).
• The Justice Department has said it plans to release Mueller's report to Congress and the public by "mid-April, if not sooner." Barr said that the president has the right to assert executive privilege on some materials but that “Trump has stated publicly that he intends to defer to me.”
• Mueller’s report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but reached no conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice. However, Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined there was insufficient evidence that Trump obstructed justice.

What is Trump’s response?

• President Donald Trump erupted over the demand for the full Mueller report early Tuesday, tweeting: “In 1998, Rep.Jerry Nadler strongly opposed the release of the Starr Report on Bill Clinton. No information whatsoever would or could be legally released. But with the NO COLLUSION Mueller Report, which the Dems hate, he wants it all. NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM! @foxandfriends”

• Trump added later: “Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report," he wrote. "Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to go through the whole process again. It won’t happen!"

“There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!”

What do you think?

Do you support the subpoenas? Should the Democrats move on from the Mueller report? Take action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: Charles Miller via Flickr)