DOJ doubles-down on its contempt of Congress (updated)

In Watergate, Congress got everything from Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, including a “road map” of grand jury evidence and the underlying grand jury evidence.

In Whitewater, Congress got everything from Special Prosecutor Ken Starr, who went to court to have the judge approve the release of grand jury testimony under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), before turning everything over to Congress.

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) was amended after 9/11 to permit:

(D) An attorney for the government may disclose any grand-jury matter involving foreign intelligence, counterintelligence (as defined in 50 U.S.C. §401a3003), or foreign intelligence information (as defined in Rule 6(e)(3)(D)(iii)) to any federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national defense, or national security official to assist the official receiving the information in the performance of that official’s duties. An attorney for the government may also disclose any grand-jury matter involving, within the United States or elsewhere, a threat of attack or other grave hostile acts of a foreign power or its agent, a threat of domestic or international sabotage or terrorism, or clandestine intelligence gathering activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by its agent, to any appropriate federal, state, state subdivision, Indian tribal, or foreign government official, for the purpose of preventing or responding to such threat or activities.

In other words, The Department of Justice is authorized to disclose the grand jury evidence in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to the appropriate congressional committees with oversight over foreign intelligence and national security, without having to go to court to request the judge approve the release of grand jury testimony under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e).

“Coverup-General Barr” has refused to provide the unredacted Mueller Report and the underlying grand jury evidence to Congress under this rule. In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, when asked if he would seek court approval for the release of grand jury evidence to Congress, as precedent in Watergate and Whitewater established, he also said “no,” he had no intention of asking the court to do so.

“Coverup-General Barr” is in defiance of the law and established precedent. He is denying Congress information to which it is entitled to receive. He is obstructing Congress. He is in contempt of Congress.

“Coverup-General Barr” doubled-down on his contempt of Congress last night. Justice Dept. Threatens House Democrats Over Contempt in Barr Battle:

The Justice Department threatened late Tuesday to ask President Trump to invoke executive privilege over the [redacted] portions of Robert S. Mueller III’s report and all of the evidence behind it if Democrats proceeded Wednesday with a vote to hold Attorney General William P. Barr in contempt of Congress.

In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, the department accused Democrats of being unreasonable in subpoenaing that material.

This is complete nonsense. See above.

“In the face of the committee’s threatened contempt vote, the attorney general will be compelled to request that the president invoke executive privilege with respect to the material subject to the subpoenas,” wrote Mr. Barr’s deputy, Stephen E. Boyd. “I hereby request that the committee hold the subpoena in abeyance and delay any vote on whether to recommend a citation of contempt for noncompliance with the subpoena, pending the president’s determination of this question.”

Executive privilege has nothing to do with Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) grand jury evidence. It only applies to privileged communications between the president and his advisors. This doesn’t even make sense. It is DOJ that is being unreasonable. DOJ is “stonewalling” this investigation at the direction of president Donald trump.

UPDATE: President Trump asserted executive privilege on Wednesday in an effort to shield redacted portions of Robert S. Mueller’s report and the underlying evidence he collected from Congress. Trump Asserts Executive Privilege Over Full Mueller Report: “This is to advise you that the president has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials,” a Justice Department official, Stephen E. Boyd, wrote Wednesday morning, referencing not only the Mueller report but the underlying evidence that House Democrats are seeking. This is now officially worse than Watergate.

Democrats were enraged and said Wednesday’s vote would go on as planned because Mr. Barr was in defiance of a Judiciary Committee subpoena for the same material he was threatening to seal off.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Nadler said that despite the Justice Department’s request, the contempt vote is still scheduled for Wednesday morning, and he challenged the Justice Department’s legal arguments. Dems moving forward with Barr contempt vote after DOJ talks break down:

“The department’s legal arguments are without credibility, merit, or legal or factual basis,” Nadler said. “Worse, this kind of obstruction is dangerous. The department’s decision reflects President Trump’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated duties.”

“In the coming days, I expect that Congress will have no choice but to confront the behavior of this lawless Administration,” Nadler continued. “The Committee will also take a hard look at the officials who are enabling this cover up.”

The latest salvo from the Justice Department follows several hours of negotiating between the committee and Justice Department. Democrats say all members of Congress should have access to Mueller’s findings — especially the dozens of members on committees investigating conduct related to his report on links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

But Barr has permitted only 12 senior lawmakers — six Republicans and six Democrats — to view a minimally redacted version of the report. As of last week, only Collins and Graham said they’ve viewed the less-redacted report, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he intended to view it.

Earlier Tuesday, Justice Department officials huddled on Capitol Hill with committee staffers and presented an offer intended to head off Barr being cited for contempt. Their offer, according to two sources familiar with the matter, included allowing the 12 lawmakers already granted access to the report to bring two staff members — rather than one — to view the less-redacted report. DOJ also said those lawmakers and staff could keep any notes they took on the report.

But the offer did not include allowing additional lawmakers to access the report, making it a non-starter for Democrats. Nadler offered a counter-proposal late Tuesday that would have granted the full Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in the House and Senate access to the less-redacted report, an aide said.

Nadler’s counter-offer also included up to three staff members for each party and a commitment from the Justice Department to either support the committee’s efforts to access grand jury material contained in Mueller’s report, or a promise not to oppose the committee if it sought a court order to do so.

Finally, Nadler asked for a meeting to lay out a schedule to roll out lawmakers’ access to Mueller’s full underlying materials.

But the Justice Department rejected those terms, calling them “unreasonable demands” and said they were “a transparent attempt to short-circuit the constitutionally mandated accommodation process and provoke an unnecessary conflict between our respective branches of government.”

* * *

The Justice Department also intends to continue shielding grand-jury information. Democrats have urged Barr to join them in seeking a court order to release that information so that the committee can use it for its ongoing obstruction of justice investigation into President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the committee is still seeking testimony from Mueller himself and from former White House counsel Don McGahn, who is emerging as a central witness in the obstruction probe. McGahn earlier Tuesday refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena for documents related to that investigation after the White House instructed him to disregard House Democrats’ demands.

Nadler teed up the contempt vote on Monday after Barr signaled he would defy the panel’s subpoena for full, unredacted report and underlying evidence.

* * *

While the fight for access to the unredacted report has centered on the Judiciary panel, the House Intelligence Committee has also demanded the full report in addition to the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information gathered throughout the investigation.

On Tuesday, a committee aide revealed that the Justice Department “has not produced any documents responsive to our requests and has not agreed to schedule any testimony, even after Chairman [Adam] Schiff and ranking member [Devin] Nunes sent a follow-up letter in late April, almost a month after the DOJ did not respond to their first letter.”

In that follow-up letter, Schiff and Nunes said that absent “meaningful compliance” by Thursday of this week, the committee would “have no choice but to resort to compulsory process” beginning on Friday.

UPDATE: Schiff subpoenas DOJ for unredacted Mueller report and counterintel info:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff issued a subpoena to the Justice Department on Wednesday for the unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, in addition to all of the foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information collected during the 22-month investigation.

The subpoena comes after Schiff (D-Calif.) and his Republican counterpart, Rep. Devin Nunes of California, made a rare joint request for the documents. Schiff said the Justice Department had yet to respond to the committee’s request, prompting him to issue a subpoena.

The committee’s subpoena requires the Justice Department to turn over the documents by May 15.

Stay tuned for later updates.

UPDATE: The House Judiciary Committee approved the resolution to hold “Coverup-General Barr” in contempt of Congress for his refusal to provide an unredacted copy of the Mueller Report and the underlying evidence to the committee on a straight party-line vote of 24-16.

If you watched any of today’s hearing, you will have observed that there was not one patriot among the Republicans on the committee. They all failed to honor their oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United states. The only interest of these authoritarian Republicans was to defend the obstruction of justice by their wannabe autocratic “Dear Leader” and his “fixer” Attorney General, not defending the powers and prerogatives of the Congress under Article I of the Constitution, the interests of justice, or the rule of law.

Let’s be perfectly clear: the Trump administration is engaging in obstruction of Congress and contempt of Congress, and the Republican members of Congress are co-conspirators aiding and abetting these crimes. They are all complicit and equally culpable. Some of them are even accessories after the fact to Trump’s obstruction of justice. Obstruction of Congress was one of the articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.

What we have right now is the entire Republican Party in lock-step with the Trump crime family. It is acting as a criminal enterprise, using the control of government to undermine the Department of Justice and the rule of law to prevent the fair administration of justice and to prevent holding anyone accountable.This is the “collusion” that Americans should be most outraged about and taking to the streets to protest in the nation’s Capitol … and at the ballot box.

We are in a battle for the soul of America.