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Donald Trump opposed to Bob Mueller testifying before congress
The department of justice released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on April 18 saying details from grand jury hearings had been blacked out from the report, along with some other information. Democrats have sought the full report.
A US House of Representatives committee will vote Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of congress for missing a Monday deadline for handing over an un-redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling.
If the full House followed up with a yes vote as well, Barr will become only the second sitting member of a president’s cabinet to have been held in contempt in American history, said reports. Eric Holder, President Barack Obama’s attorney general, was the first, in 2012.
“Although the Committee has attempted to engage in accommodations with Attorney General Barr for several months, it can no longer afford to delay, and must resort to contempt proceedings,” read a contempt report released by Jerrold Nadler, the Democrat heading the House’s judiciary committee.
“The committee urgently requires access to the full, un-redacted Mueller Report and to the investigatory and evidentiary materials cited in the Report.”
The department of justice released a redacted version of Mueller’s report on April 18 saying details from grand jury hearings had been blacked out from the report, along with some other information. Democrats have sought the full report.
The contempt move came amidst an intensifying tussle between Trump and the Democratic-led House of Representatives. Trump has vowed to resist continuing congressional probes and investigations saying he had been cleared of both conspiring with the Russian meddling o obstructing justice by preventing the investigation of his role in it, or of members of his campaign.
On Sunday, he changed his stand on Mueller testifying in congress. “Bob Mueller should not testify,” he wrote on twitter Sunday. “No redos for the Dems!” The president had said on Friday that Barr will decide if Mueller should, or not, testify. The attorney general has said multiple times now that he has no objection to the special counsel appearing before congress.
Democrats want to hear from Mueller amid disagreements about whether Barr’s four-page summary had mischaracterised findings of his 448-page.
Barr’s summary, which was released days before the full report, had exonerated President Trump from conspiring with the Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and obstructing justice.
Mueller’s report, however, had cleared the president only of conspiring with the meddling. The report had cited 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice, and said that though not enough evidence had been found to establish that charge, the president could not be exonerated from it.
Trump’s reversal of stand came shortly after a member of the House of Representatives’ judiciary committee said on a Sunday TV show a tentative deal had been reached for Mueller to appear before the panel on May 15.
