Today in Our Constitutional Crisis

As the House Judiciary Committee votes on whether to cite Attorney General Bill Barr for contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena demanding he give them the unredacted version of the Mueller report including the underlying evidence, the Justice Department has informed House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler that Donald Trump "has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials."

Breaking: Justice Department has informed House Judiciary Chmn @RepJerryNadler the “President has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials.” pic.twitter.com/VrIE7xwjBW

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 8, 2019

The Justice Department made this threat last night, and now they have gone through with it.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement reading:

The American people see through Chairman Nadler's desperate ploy to distract from the President's historically successful agenda and our booming economy. Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler's unlawful and reckless demands.

The Attorney General has been transparent and accommodating throughout this process, including by releasing the no-collusion, no-conspiracy, no-obstruction Mueller Report to the public and offering to testify before the Committee. These attempts to work with the Committee have been flatly rejected. They didn't like the results of the report, and now they want a redo.

Faced with Chairman Nadler's blatant abuse of power, and at the Attorney General's request, the President has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege.

It is sad that Chairman Nadler is only interested in pandering to the press and pleasing his radical left constituency. The American people deserve a Congress that is focused on solving real problems like the crisis at the border, high prescription drug prices, our country's crumbling infrastructure, and so much more.

Breathtaking.

So, just to be clear: The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena requesting the full, unredacted Mueller report, including evidence. Barr refused to comply. The House threatened to hold him in contempt. In response, he advised the president to declare the entirety of the Mueller report protected by executive privilege.

The report that supposedly totally exonerates him.

And now the House Judiciary Committee votes whether to hold Barr in contempt. Which is the bare minimum of the accountability measures that need to be put into action now.