A top Democrat in the House of Representatives issued a subpoena for the full unredacted Mueller report on April 19.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said early Friday he was going to issue the subpoena.
Appearing on “Good Morning America,” Nadler told anchor George Stephanopoulos, who previously worked in the Bill Clinton administration, that his committee should be able to see the full report, including information that is currently redacted in both versions.
The most heavily redacted version was published on the Department of Justice website for the public to read; another version, with fewer redactions, was sent to some members of Congress, including Nadler.
NEW: House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler tells @GStephanopoulos subpoena for unredacted Mueller report is coming “in the next couple of hours.” https://t.co/mOQZNKl1wy pic.twitter.com/2SzQn6aLlW
— ABC News (@ABC) April 19, 2019
This morning, @HouseJudiciary has issued a subpoena to the Department of Justice for the full the Mueller report and the underlying materials. DOJ is required to comply with that subpoena by May 1. pic.twitter.com/nzu9O5CC36
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) April 19, 2019
Nadler said that the members of his committee need to see the full report to make “informed decisions,” including whether or not to try and impeach President Donald Trump.
“We need the entire report, unredacted, and the underlying documents in order to make informed decisions,” he said.
Nadler said later on Friday when he issued the subpoena that he expects the Department of Justice to comply with the subpoena by May 1.
Robert Mueller, the special counsel, concluded that there was no conspiracy or cooperation—known by many as collusion—between Trump or his campaign and Russian actors who sought to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller drives away from his Washington home, on April 17, 2019. (Kevin Wolf/AP Photo)The report showed the results of an investigation that took around two years and cost some $30 million.
The redactions were made as required by law, according to Attorney General William Barr, whose team worked with members of Mueller’s team to make the redactions. That included covering information pertaining to grand jury evidence. Nadler said that he’s “open to working with the department to reach a reasonable accommodation for access to these materials, however, I cannot accept any proposal, which leaves most of Congress in the dark, as they grapple with their duties of legislation, oversight, and constitutional accountability.”
While Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded from the evidence that Mueller gathered that Trump also did not commit obstruction, Nadler said he disagrees and believes that the special counsel wanted Congress to take up the obstruction issue.
“Because Barr misled the country, we have to hear from Barr, which we will on May 2. We have to hear from Mueller and ask him a lot of questions,” Nadler said Friday.
Attorney General William Barr speaks alongside Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, right, and acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Edward O’Callaghan, left, about the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, on April 18, 2019. (Patrick Semansky/AP Photo)“We have to hold hearings and hear from other people both on the question of obstruction of justice, whereas I said the special prosecutor invited Congress to look into that, not the attorney general. We have to look into all that. We need the entire report, unredacted, and the underlying documents in order to make informed decisions,” he added.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said that he, too, wants to see the full report.
“Contrary to Attorney General Barr’s attempts at misdirection, it is crystal clear from the report that the Justice Department’s policy against indicting a sitting president played a key role in special counsel Mueller’s analysis—in fact, it is the very first point in the obstruction section of his report. Unfortunately, we still have only part of the story, and Congress must subpoena the full report and all underlying documents,” Cummings said in a statement on Thursday.
He is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump arrive at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland prior to boarding Air Force One for departure to Florida, on April 18, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)Barr, though, noted earlier on Thursday that he and Rosenstein made the determination not only based on the report.
“After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other Department lawyers, the deputy attorney general and I concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense,” he told reporters at a press conference.
Barr said that he and Rosenstein kept in mind that Trump was facing “an unprecedented situation.”
“As he entered into office, and sought to perform his responsibilities as president, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office, and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the president’s personal culpability. Yet, as he said from the beginning, there was, in fact, no collusion.”
From NTD News
