Barr just caved in to House Democrats’ demands for evidence of Trump’s alleged crimes

[Boats]

Barr just caved in to House Democrats’ demands for evidence of Trump’s alleged crimes
BY: GRANT STERN - Washington Press - JUNE 10, 2019
RE: https://washingtonpress.com/2019/06/...umps-crimes-2/

After months of brinksmanship, the Department of Justice just caved to the House Judiciary Committee’s demands to provide them with the key evidence about Trump’s impeachable offenses within the Mueller Report.

The House of Representatives was planning on holding a vote tomorrow in order to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing compulsory process to turn over unredacted report and materials.

Today’s deal will give House Democrats unfettered access to Volume II of the unredacted Mueller Report and its underlying evidence, all of which proves that President Trump obstructed the Special Counsel’s probe into Russian election interference. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) released an official statement:
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Press Releases
Nadler Reaches Agreement with DOJ for Mueller Report Evidence of Possible Presidential Obstruction
House Judiciary Committee to Obtain Key Evidence Underlying Special Counsel Investigation
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Washington, June 10, 2019
Tags: Trump , Russia Investigation
Washington, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) announced that he had reached an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over obtaining key evidence in the Mueller Report related to possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.

Chairman Nadler made the following statement:

"I am pleased to announce that the Department of Justice has agreed to begin complying with our committee's subpoena by opening Robert Mueller’s most important files to us, providing us with key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct.The Department will share the first of these documents with us later today.All members of the Judiciary Committee—Democrats and Republicans alike—will be able to view them.These documents will allow us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.

"Given our conversations with the Department, I will hold the criminal contempt process in abeyance for now.We have agreed to allow the Department time to demonstrate compliance with this agreement.If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps.If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoenain court and consider other remedies. It is critical that Congress is able to obtain the information we need to do our jobs, ensuring no one is above the law and bringing the American public the transparency they deserve."

BACKGROUND

On April 19, the House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for the unredacted Mueller report and key underlying evidence.The Department of Justice refused to comply with the May 1 deadline for production of those materials.Although the Committee made repeated attempts to negotiate for the materials responsive to the subpoena, the Department cut off negotiations on the evening of May 7.On May 8, the Committee voted to recommend that the House hold Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress.On May 24, Chairman Nadler wrote to White House Counsel and the Attorney General to remind them that, "[n]otwithstandingthe President’s stated intent to block all congressional subpoenas, the Committee also remains prepared to meet with the Department and the White House to ascertain if an acceptable accommodation can be reached."

Tomorrow, the House is expected to consider H. Res. 430, a resolution authorizing the Committee to enforce its subpoenas in federal court. Some enforcement action may be necessary to obtain documents and testimony outside the scope of today’s agreement with the Department of Justice, including testimony from former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
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PRESS RELEASE

“I am pleased to announce that the Department of Justice has agreed to begin complying with our committee’s subpoena by opening Robert Mueller’s most important files to us, providing us with key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct.

The Department will share the first of these documents with us later today. These documents will allow us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.”

It is a stunning reversal for President Trump just over one month after he and Barr wrongly claimed that the entire Mueller Report was exempt from disclosure to Congress under the doctrine of the executive privilege.

Executive privilege is a very narrow exemption to the White House’s requirements to comply with subpoenas from the courts, protecting presidential deliberations and communications, especially about national security, from disclosure.

A former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee called Trump’s claims of privilege as bogus as Nixon’s.

This also marks the second accommodation to release Mueller Report materials with Congress in the last three weeks.

Last month, the House Intelligence Committee issued a bipartisan subpoena of the intelligence materials and underlying evidence primarily about Russia’s attacks on our election which form Volume I of the report.

The DOJ reached an accommodation with House Intel Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) on May 22nd, and this week, the committee is planning on holding public hearings about the counterintelligence ramifications of the Special Counsel’s investigation.

Regardless of today’s agreement between the DOJ and Rep. Nadler’s committee, the House is still planning a civil contempt citation vote tomorrow against Attorney General Bill Barr for his refusal to provide many other records sought by the House. That’s because the Trump administration is trying to add a citizenship question to the next Census — for purely racist political advantage to “white Republicans” — and both Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross refuse to provide Congress with more records about their dubious plan.

Nevertheless, today’s agreement by the DOJ to turn over evidence of President Trump’s transgressions is a major milestone.

It will deliver more facts from the Mueller Report in front of Congress, who moves one giant step closer to commencing a formal impeachment inquiry which could validate Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s patient strategy for dealing with America’s first hardened criminal president.

Here’s the rest of House Judiciary Chairman Nadler’s official statement:
RE: https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/s...009088/photo/1