Washington: US Attorney General William Barr plans to skip a House Judiciary hearing on Thursday on special counsel Robert Mueller’s rep-ort, escalating an already acrimonious battle betw-een Democrats and the Justice Department.
Barr’s decision — he cites a disagreement over the questioning — came the day the department missed a committee deadline to provide the panel with a full, unredacted version of Mueller’s Russia report and its underlying evidence. Those moves are likely to prompt a vote on holding Barr in contempt and possibly the issuance of subpoenas, bringing House Democrats and the Trump administration closer to a prolonged battle in court.
Even though Barr informed the panel he isn’t coming, Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said he will still convene the hearing, raising the prospect of an empty witness chair.
“I hope and expect the attorney general will think overnight and will be there as well,” Nadler said. As Barr refused to testify, Democrats sought to speak to Mueller himself. Nadler said the panel hoped the special counsel would appear before the committee on May 15 and the panel was “firming up the date.”
The AG’s cancellation meant he would avoid another round of sharp questioning after testifying on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the panel charged that Barr was protecting President Donald Trump after he assessed Muel-ler’s report on his own and declared there wasn’t enough evidence that Trump had committed obstruction of justice. Mueller didn’t charge Trump with obstruction, but wrote that he couldn’t exonerate him, either.
The standoff with Justice Department is one of several fights House Democrats are waging with the Trump administration. Trump has vowed to fight “all of the subpoenas” as multiple committees have sought to speak with administration officials or obtain documents relevant to his policies and finances. Democrats have signaled they won’t back down and will take the steps necessary — including in court — to get the White House to comply.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she’s not interested in impeachment, for the moment. But she said on Wednesday that “the threat of impeachment is always there.”
Nadler, and the Justice Department traded barbs shortly after Barr informed lawmakers of his decision on the hearing, with Nadler saying the AG is “trying to blackmail the committee” by setting his own terms.
Barr had objected to the format of the hearing after Democrats decided to let staff attorneys conduct a round of questioning after lawmakers were done.
