House Democratic Leaders Set Deadline to See Full Mueller Report

March 26, 2019 by Dan McCue
House Democratic Leaders Set Deadline to See Full Mueller Report
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) at a town hall meeting at The Riverside Church in Morningside Heights in New York on August 8, 2018. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA/TNS)

The Democratic chairs of six House committees sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr late Monday demanding that Congress receive Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report on his Russia probe no later than Tuesday, April 2.

In their letter, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler and the five other chairs said Barr’s four-page summary of Mueller’s work is “not sufficient for Congress, a coequal branch of government, to perform oversight duties.”

The other signatories are House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

They argue that providing the report “in complete and unredacted form,” along with the underlying evidence and materials, would be fully consistent with the Justice Department practice and precedent in regard to its interactions with Congress.

“To the extent that you believe applicable law limits your ability to comply, we urge you to begin the process of consultation with us immediately in order to establish shared parameters for resolving those issues without delay,” the letter says.

In his first communication with Congress on the report, Barr said Mueller did not find that President Donald Trump or members of his presidential campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 elections.

Barr went on to say Mueller did not implicate or exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice, effectively punting that question. Absent a recommendation from Mueller, Barr stepped in and decided there wasn’t sufficient evidence to establish that the president obstructed justice.

On a related note, the House Intelligence Committee has postponed Wednesday’s public hearing with Felix Sater, a longtime business associate of President Trump, in order to instead focus on bringing in Justice Department officials to testify on Mueller’s investigation.

In a statement the committee said, “In light of the cursory letter from the Attorney General, and our need to understand Special Counsel Mueller’s areas of inquiry and evidence his office uncovered, we are working in parallel with other Committees to bring in senior officials from the DOJ, FBI and SCO [special counsel’s office] to ensure that our Committee is fully and currently informed about the SCO’s investigation, including all counterintelligence information.”

“With the focus on those efforts this week, we are postponing Mr. Sater’s open interview,” the statement said.

Democratic leaders in Congress continue to follow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lead in asserting  impeachment — a prospect much discussed while Mueller’s investigation was ongoing — is not something they are thinking about as they press demands the full Mueller report be made public.

At least one dissenter in the caucus is continuing to try to make the case for impeachment. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is circulating a letter among her colleagues in support of a resolution that would instruct the House Judiciary Committee to investigate whether the president had “committed impeachable offenses.”

But when she reportedly presented the letter to fellow Democrats in a closed door meeting on Monday, she had no takers.

Asked about the meeting later that night, Pelosi was succinct.

“All I’m interested in is for them to release the full report, the full Mueller report,” the California Democrat said.

 

A+
a-
  • Congress
  • Democrats
  • Jerrold Nadler
  • Robert Mueller
  • William Barr
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Appeals Court Largely Upholds Trump DC Gag Order

    WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel on Friday largely upheld a gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel on Friday largely upheld a gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump in the criminal case accusing him of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but loosened it just enough to allow criticism of the... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Tom Ramstack
    Hunter Biden Indicted on Felony Charges Alleging Years of Tax Evasion

    LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles grand jury indicted Hunter Biden on tax charges Thursday. The nine-count indictment alleges Biden... Read More

    LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles grand jury indicted Hunter Biden on tax charges Thursday. The nine-count indictment alleges Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes over four years. The Los Angeles indictment follows similar tax evasion charges this year in Delaware. Biden also is... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    FDA Approves a CRISPR-Based Medicine to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

    WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the world’s first medicine based on CRISPR gene-editing technology for... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the world’s first medicine based on CRISPR gene-editing technology for the treatment of sickle cell disease. The new treatment, called Casgevy, was manufactured by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, of Boston, Massachusetts, and CRISPR Therapeutics, of Switzerland, using a... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Georgia Legislators Approve New Congressional District Map

    ATLANTA — The Georgia Legislature on Thursday gave its approval to a new congressional district map that adds a Black... Read More

    ATLANTA — The Georgia Legislature on Thursday gave its approval to a new congressional district map that adds a Black majority district west of Atlanta but appears to dilute the district currently represented by Democratic Rep. Lucy McBath. The adoption of the map came just a... Read More

    December 8, 2023
    by Dan McCue
    Cutting-Edge Veterans Home Features Geothermal Wells, Solar Array

    CHELSEA, Mass. — A new state-of-the-art Veterans Home unveiled Friday in Massachusetts is fossil-fuel free and composed of green spaces,... Read More

    CHELSEA, Mass. — A new state-of-the-art Veterans Home unveiled Friday in Massachusetts is fossil-fuel free and composed of green spaces, 145 geothermal wells and a rooftop solar array. Located across the Mystic River from Boston on Chelsea’s Powder Horn Hill, the Veterans Home at Chelsea is... Read More

    New York Can Enforce Laws Banning Guns From 'Sensitive Locations' for Now, US Appeals Court Rules

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York can continue to enforce laws banning firearms in certain “sensitive” locations and require that... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York can continue to enforce laws banning firearms in certain “sensitive” locations and require that handgun owners be of “good moral character,” a federal appeals court ruled Friday in its first broad review of a host of new gun rules passed... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top