House Judiciary Committee Will Subpoena Mueller Report

Today, Democratic chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, announced that the committee has scheduled a vote for Wednesday which would authorize subpoenas to obtain Special Counsel Bob Mueller's complete report.

Tomorrow marks the deadline the committee set for Attorney General Bill Barr to deliver the report to them. If that deadline passes without delivery of the report, they'll subpoena it — along with five former White House aides.

John Wagner at the Washington Post reports:

Barr pledged last week to release a redacted version by mid-April, well after Nadler's deadline. Nadler's committee is seeking to obtain the "full and complete report," which spans nearly 400 pages, as well as underlying evidence.

"As I have made clear, Congress requires the full and complete Special Counsel report, without redactions, as well as access to the underlying evidence," Nadler said in a statement Monday, in which he urged Barr to reconsider meeting his Tuesday deadline, which Republicans have criticized as arbitrary. "The full and complete report must be released to Congress without delay."

...At a news conference last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed frustration with the way Barr has handled the report, calling it "condescending" and "arrogant."

"We do not need your interpretation. Show us the report," she said.

Nadler said Monday that his Democratic-led panel also plans to vote to authorize subpoenas for five former White House aides who might have received documents relevant to the special counsel's investigation: former White House counsel Donald McGahn; former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon; former communications director Hope Hicks; former chief of staff Reince Priebus; and Ann Donaldson, McGahn's former chief of staff.

The five were among 81 individuals and entities to whom Nadler sent requests for documents last month as part of a larger probe into potential abuse of power by Trump.

"I am grateful to the many individuals who have cooperated with our initial request for documents," Nadler said in his statement. "Regrettably, not everyone has chosen to voluntarily cooperate with the Committee at this time. ...To this end, I have asked the Committee to authorize me to issue subpoenas, if necessary, to compel the production of documents and testimony."

The Republicans are going to stonewall House Democrats as long as they can, which may well be forever. The Democrats know that; they're doing their jobs, anyway. As well they should.

And let us note that the Republicans are stonewalling the Democrats in contravention of the will of the people, a majority of whom not only want Congress to have the full report, but want the full report to be made public.

The Republicans continue to behave as if they're not going to be accountable to voters ever again, which is notable — and deeply troubling.