The House just voted to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn in civil contempt
- The House of Representatives voted to authorize committees to sue Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn to force cooperation with multiple subpoenas using a civil contempt resolution.
- A civil contempt resolution is different from criminal contempt of Congress, which can result in lofty fines or even jail time.
- The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena for a full, unredacted copy of the Mueller report and the underlying evidence, but Barr refused to comply. McGahn had been subpoenaed to testify, but the Trump administration directed him not to comply.
- The Justice Department struck a last minute deal on Monday with the House Judiciary Committee to provide certain documents and avoid harsher action from congressional Democrats.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to allow a congressional committee to enforce subpoenas by taking uncooperative executive branch officials to court using a civil contempt resolution.
A civil contempt resolution is different from criminal contempt of Congress, which can result in lofty fines or even jail time.The vote fell straight along party lines, 229-191. The resolution only required a simple majority and only needs to be passed in one chamber of Congress. It came after the House Judiciary Committee hammered out the details of the contempt resolution in a marathon hearing.
Read more: Being held in contempt of Congress is one of the most severe congressional actions. Here's what the historic move means.Democrats on the committee had issued a subpoena for Barr to hand over a full, unredacted copy of the special counsel report detailing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the underlying evidence. But Barr refused to comply with the committee's demands.
In McGahn's case, the White House instructed him to not testify before the committee, angering Democrats clamoring to haul in the central figure in Mueller's obstruction case, and the one official named more times than anyone else in Mueller's report.On Monday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler struck a deal with the Justice Department to avoid holding Barr in criminal contempt in exchange for certain documents relating to the now-wrapped special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.The Justice Department agreed to turn over key evidence from Mueller's obstruction case to the judiciary committee, which lawmakers believe will significantly aid their investigation into whether President Donald Trump sought to illegally thwart Mueller's investigation.
Prior to the vote, Nadler called the resolution necessary due to what he characterized as "unprecedented stonewalling" from the Trump administration."The committees have a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight, to make recommendations to the House as necessary, and to craft legislation that will curb the waste, fraud, and abuse on full display in the Trump Administration," Nadler said during a speech on the House floor. "This is why it is important that the Judiciary Committee be able to act in such matters using all of our Article 1 powers, as contemplated in this Resolution and described in both the Rules Committee Report and the House Judiciary Committee's Contempt Report."
Mueller did not make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether Trump obstructed justice, citing Justice Department guidelines that say a sitting president cannot be indicted. But prosecutors emphasized that their report did not exonerate Trump, and that if they had confidence the president did not commit a crime, they would have said so.
They also noted that a president is not immune from criminal prosecution once he leaves office and that the constitutional remedy for holding a sitting president accountable for wrongdoing lies with Congress. Mueller cited those two things as reasons why he investigated Trump despite knowing he was prohibited from charging him."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," Nadler said in a statement after striking the deal. "If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies."
Republicans vigorously opposed the contempt charges, echoing offers from Barr himself to allow a handful of Democrats to view a less-redacted report from former FBI Director Robert Mueller.In Barr's case, he could face a lengthy legal battle as Holder did. Whether or not he will is up to the US attorneys, who could very well not pursue the criminal contempt of Congress.
Education, skill, research, innovation second biggest focus of budget after health: PM at webinar on budget provisions for higher education. PTI KR ASK DV DV
Union Budget has broadened our efforts to link education with employability and entrepreneurial capability:PM Modi at webinar on education. PTI KR ASK DV DV
India records 14,989 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours
Patient with underlying disease dies after getting AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in South Korea
Word-of-mouth has helped us grow in India, our community members are our best marketers: Taru Kapoor, Tinder
Next