Despite calls from the DOJ to cancel and the fact that it will accomplish little if any benefit for them, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and his fellow House Democrats still plan to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas. It appears that leftist lawmakers believe this action will bolster their efforts to show that President Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into Russian collusion – an investigation, you may recall, which showed the president did not collaborate with the Kremlin to influence the results of the 2016 election.
Sources working with the Democratic Party told Politico that the House would vote to hold Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress for their refusal to participate in an obviously politically-motivated campaign to impeach Trump. If this happens, the national audience can expect to see yet another frenzied battle between the Republicans and Democrats over the Mueller report. You better get some popcorn ready.
Holding Barr In Contempt
The resolution proposed by House Democrats will enable the Judiciary Committee to take both Barr and McGahn to court to compel them to comply with the subpoenas. In a released statement, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said: “This Administration’s systematic refusal to provide Congress with answers and cooperate with Congressional subpoenas is the biggest cover-up in American history, and Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight on behalf of the American people.”
According to Politico, the vote will occur on June 11 and “will also include broad authority for congressional committees to take legal action against the Trump administration in future subpoena fights.”
It’s worth pointing out that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is hoping for civil contempt, not criminal. Of course, this is because the Justice Department would not likely file charges against the Attorney General. However, civil contempt is referred to the DOJ as well, though it falls to the judiciary to enforce the subpoena. As Liberty Nation’s Graham J. Noble explained, due to the nonjusticiability doctrine, the politically-neutral judicial branch could decline to rule since it could have political consequences.
The reason Democrats wish to hold Barr in contempt is that he has not provided them with a fully unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Of course, despite what the establishment media wants you to think, there is more to this story.
A Political Stunt?
The fact of the matter is that Barr is prohibited from publicizing the unredacted report because it includes proceedings conducted by the grand jury. Current laws prevent information related to a matter addressed by a grand jury from being exposed to the public. This means that House Democrats are essentially asking Barr to break these laws, which is why he refused to comply with their subpoena.
However, the Attorney General has not been as recalcitrant as the Democrats seem to believe. Shortly after Mueller released his report, Barr gave a standing invitation to six members of Congress from both parties to view the report with most of the classified redactions — not including those related to the grand jury — removed. You will not be surprised to learn that only two lawmakers accepted Barr’s offer, and they were both Republicans. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) are the only legislators to see the mostly-unredacted report.
If you didn’t know better, you might assume that the Democrats don’t genuinely care about the redacted information in the report and that they are cynically using this issue as a political ploy to convince the American public that there is a hidden smoking gun proving President Trump a Russian spy who obstructed an investigation into a crime that was not committed. Could this otherwise pointless move be a mere ploy to bamboozle the public, or is this madness yet another symptom of the Trump Derangement Syndrome?
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