Democrats are threatening to hold the attorney general in contempt of Congress. Here’s how that would work.
House Democrats are upping the ante in their attempt to get special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report by threatening to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.
Frustrated by weeks of missed subpoena deadlines and pushback from the Trump administration, the House Judiciary Committee will vote on a contempt resolution this Wednesday after Barr failed to deliverMueller’s complete, unredacted report by a Monday deadline. The contempt resolution would also have to be approved by the full House— which may have a shot at passing now that an increasing number of Democrats are focusing their ire on Barr.
Barr’s main objection to releasing the full report is regulations that prohibit releasing grand jury material to members of Congress. The attorney general has offered Democrats a less-redacted version of Mueller’s report, but they’ve so far rejected the offer. They want the full thing.
Contempt is another way for Congress to get subpoenaed documents, by asking the US attorney of the District of Columbia or the Department of Justice to charge Barr with criminal contempt for not complying with a congressional subpoena. In theory,a charge of contemptcould result in a fine or jail time for the attorney general (thoughin reality that likely won’t happen).
As serious as contempt sounds, it realistically won’t amount to more than Congress sending a powerful message — unless Democrats pass a different resolution to authorize suing Barr and the Trump administration to try to get the Mueller report.
“The Attorney General’s failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report,” House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said in a statement Monday.
It’s yet another sign that Barr is Democrats’ new political target. Last week, House speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Barr of lying to Congress by mischaracterizing Mueller’s report when he testified in front of a House committee last month.
“What is deadly serious about it is the attorney general of the United States of America was not telling the truth to the Congress of the United States,” Pelosi said at her weekly press conference Thursday. “That’s a crime.”
Democrats will now try to start the process of charging Barr with a crime. They may not be successful.
A House Judiciary Committee vote on a contempt of Congress citation isn’t coming out of nowhere; the Trump administration has blocked their subpoena for the Mueller report, as well as many other House subpoena requests.
