Attorney-General William Barr risks being held in contempt of Congress if he misses a Monday deadline set by House Democrats to hand over a more complete version of the Mueller report, along with its underlying documents.
The House Judiciary Committee has given Mr Barr until 9am on Monday to comply with its demand for more information about the special counsel’s report in to Russian interference in the 2016 election, or face court-ordered fines and other punitive measures.
“I think if the attorney-general does not [comply], the chairman will ask the committee to move forward with a contempt citation,” David Cicilline, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Sunday, referring to committee chairman Jerrold Nadler.
“The chairman has been very patient — has tried to accommodate the attorney-general in every way. But the members of our committee need to see the full report and the supporting documents so we can continue to do our work [and] conduct oversight in a sober and responsible way.”
He said the attorney-general’s office had not yet handed over any of the relevant documents. Last week, the justice department indicated it would not comply with the committee’s subpoena, which it said did not fall under “legitimate oversight” due to its “unnecessarily burdensome” demands.
The stand-off between Mr Barr and congressional Democrats reached new heights last week after Mr Barr refused to testify before the House judiciary committee when Democrats insisted that a staff lawyer for the committee question Mr Barr, instead of lawmakers.
Mr Barr faced a grilling from Senate Democrats a day earlier after it emerged that Mr Mueller had criticised the attorney-general for his handling of a summary of the special counsel report — a revelation that directly contradicted Mr Barr’s own testimony to Congress in April.
Senior Democrats, including many of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, have called on Mr Barr to resign, while Republicans have argued that Democrats are only going after Mr Barr for partisan purposes and that it is time to turn the page on the Russia investigation.
Should the House judiciary committee move forward with a contempt citation against Mr Barr, the measure would next be considered on the House of Representatives floor where Democrats hold a 235-197 majority.
In the meantime, Democrats are waiting for Mr Mueller to appear before Congress and testify on his report. Both Mr Barr and the White House have indicated they would not block Mr Mueller from testifying. His appearance before the House judiciary committee has been tentatively scheduled for May 15, Mr Cicilline said.
