Nadler: ‘Constitutional crisis’ over Mueller report dispute

The House Judiciary chairman said Wednesday the Trump administration’s refusal to provide special counsel Robert Mueller’s full Russia report to Congress presents a “constitutional crisis,” leaving the panel no choice but to move forward with a contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr.

Talks with the Justice Department broke down late Tuesday over the committee’s subpoena for an unredacted version of Mueller’s report.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the dispute poses “a constitution crisis” because President Donald Trump “is disobeying the law, is refusing all information to Congress.”

“We have no choice,” Nadler told CNN, but to move forward on the contempt vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the chairman’s decision. She suggested Democrats were surprised by the Justice Department’s decision to threaten executive privilege to block the release as last-minute talks failed late Tuesday.

“We thought they’d just come back with a counteroffer,” she said Wednesday during a Washington Post interview.

Pelosi said if the committee approves contempt resolution, as is expected, the “next step” would be eventual consideration by the full House.

Barr released a redacted version of Mueller’s report to the public last month, but Democrats said they want to see the full document, along with underlying evidence, and subpoenaed the full report. The department has rejected that demand, while allowing a handful of lawmakers to view a version of Mueller’s report with fewer redactions. Democrats have said they won’t view that version until they get broader access.

The House Judiciary Committee and Justice Department negotiated into the evening Tuesday, trading offers on how many lawmakers would be able to view the report, how many staff members and whether the department would work with the committee to gain access to secret grand jury material. But those talks ultimately stalled.

In a letter sent late Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Nadler that in the face of the committee’s contempt vote, Barr would be “compelled to request that the president invoke executive privilege with respect to the materials subject to the subpoena.”

It was not immediately clear how such a claim of privilege would work with respect to Mueller’s report, which has already been released to the public in redacted form. Executive privilege is the president’s power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process.

Nadler said in response to Boyd’s letter to the committee that “this is, of course, not how executive privilege works.”

“The Department seemed open to sharing these materials with us earlier today. The Department’s legal arguments are without credibility, merit, or legal or factual basis,” Nadler said.

The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, sharply criticized the Democrats’ plan to go ahead with the vote.

“I can’t imagine a more illogical hill for a legislator to die on,” Collins said in a statement.

If the committee holds Barr in contempt, it would be the first step in what could be a protracted, multipronged court battle between Congress and the Trump administration.

Trump has defied requests from House Democrats since the release of Mueller’s report last month, and Democrats are fighting the White House on several fronts as they attempt to learn more about the report, call witnesses and obtain Trump’s personal and financial documents.

In a related move, Nadler also threatened to hold former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress if he doesn’t testify before the Judiciary committee later this month. Nadler rejected a White House claim that documents McGahn refused to provide despite a subpoena are controlled by the White House and thus McGahn has no legal right to them.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday’s negotiations with Nadler’s committee.

On Monday, when the Judiciary panel scheduled the vote, Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department has “taken extraordinary steps to accommodate the House Judiciary Committee’s requests for information” regarding Mueller’s report, but that Nadler had not reciprocated. She noted that Democrats have refused to read the version of Mueller’s report with fewer redactions that has been provided to Congress.

A contempt vote against Barr would head to the full House for a vote. If the House were to pass the resolution, it would send a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the attorney general.

Democratic House leaders could also file a lawsuit against the Justice Department to obtain the Mueller report, though the case could take months or even years to resolve. Some committee members have suggested they also could fine Barr as he withholds the information.

Republicans have largely united behind the president, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday declaring “case closed” on Mueller’s Russia probe and potential obstruction by Trump. McConnell said Democrats are “grieving” the result.