House Democrats are ready to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after the Department of Justice failed to deliver an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Jerrod Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has set a Wednesday vote for lawmakers to hold Barr in contempt of Congress, saying the Attorney General’s failure to comply with a subpoena calling for the full, unredacted Mueller report left the Committee with “no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings.” Barr has objected to releasing the full report over rules that prevent him from giving material related to grand jury testimony to Congress. While the Justice Department has offered to make available a less redacted version to Congress than the one already made public, Democrats have argued that they should be allowed to see the full report.

As a growing number of Democrats have come out against Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, the party is now taking steps to charge the Attorney General. Here’s what to know about contempt of Congress and how it works.

How do lawmakers hold someone in contempt of Congress?

The House or Senate can draw up contempt of Congress citations in instances where their subpoenas are denied. A statute on the criminal contempt of Congress holds that anyone who “willfully” fails to comply with a subpoena is committing a misdemeanor, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.

Upon issuing the citation, the power to prosecute the individual goes to the executive branch, the report says. Congress can alternatively file a civil suit to enforce a subpoena.

A vote to hold Barr in contempt of Congress is likely to succeed on the floor, since Democrats control the lower chamber. The case would then be sent to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia or the Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges. But it is unlikely that a federal prosecutor would bring charges against their own boss, a former member of a House counsel office tells TIME.

Why do Democrats want to hold Barr in contempt?

The move by Democrats to hold Barr in contempt of Congress marks the first time they have set out to punish an official with the Trump Administration for failing to comply with subpoena requests.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee will vote to hold Barr in contempt over his refusal to turn over an unredacted version of the Mueller report. Democrats argue that a full copy of the report will assist them in their push for an investigation into whether Trump abused the powers of his office.

“Access to these materials is essential to the Committee’s ability to effectively investigate possible misconduct, and consider appropriate legislative, oversight, or other constitutionally warranted responses,” the contempt report states. “Attorney General Barr’s refusal to comply with the Committee’s subpoena or to engage in a meaningful accommodations process therefore continues to thwart the Committee’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities.”

What are the consequences of being held in contempt?

Under the contempt of Congress statute, a person found guilty of “willfully” failing to comply with a subpoena can be punished with imprisonment for up to one year and a maximum $1,000 fine.

But it is unlikely that Barr will face criminal charges because neither a U.S. attorney nor the Department of Justice are expected to go forward in prosecuting the Attorney General, according to veterans of congressional investigations. A former counsel for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tells TIME that failing criminal prosecution, Congress is likely to try to enforce the subpoena through a civil suit. What will happen next is unclear.

“They may have to get the House to vote on contempt, file this case as well, and then we will see what happens,” the former counsel to Pelosi says. “The political pressure may be such because every poll we’ve seen shows the public is tremendously in favor of transparency.” A PBS News Hour/NPR/Marist poll found in March that about three-quarters of people said the full report should be released.

In the past, the House has also used the no rarely invoked “inherent contempt” method. Lawmakers technically have the power to arrest and detain people who refuse to comply with subpoena requests, according to the Congressional Research Service. It’s an option that gives broader powers than the criminal contempt statute because it can also be used in response to actions that are seen as “obstructing” Congress’s legislative power.

Lawmakers have largely abandoned the practice of using the “inherent contempt” option since the 1930s, but they still have the right to detain a person in an effort to speed up their access to the requested information.

When has this happened before?

Only one sitting Attorney General has been held in contempt of Congress. A Republican-controlled House held Attorney General Eric Holder, who served during the Obama Administration, in contempt of Congress in 2012 over his failure to provide documents for a congressional inquiry into an operation called “Fast and Furious,” a failed program run by an Arizona division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which allowed guns to be sold to Mexican drug gang members. </s> The House Judiciary chairman said Wednesday the Trump administration's refusal to provide special counsel Robert Mueller's full Russia report to Congress presents a "constitutional crisis," leaving the panel no choice but to move forward with a contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr.

Talks with the Justice Department broke down late Tuesday over the committee's subpoena for an unredacted version of Mueller's report.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the dispute poses "a constitution crisis" because President Donald Trump "is disobeying the law, is refusing all information to Congress."

"We have no choice," Nadler told CNN, but to move forward on the contempt vote.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed the chairman's decision. She suggested Democrats were surprised by the Justice Department's decision to threaten executive privilege to block the release as last-minute talks failed late Tuesday.

"We thought they'd just come back with a counteroffer," she said Wednesday during a Washington Post interview.

Pelosi said if the committee approves contempt resolution, as is expected, the "next step" would be eventual consideration by the full House.

Barr released a redacted version of Mueller's report to the public last month, but Democrats said they want to see the full document, along with underlying evidence, and subpoenaed the full report . The department has rejected that demand, while allowing a handful of lawmakers to view a version of Mueller's report with fewer redactions. Democrats have said they won't view that version until they get broader access.

The House Judiciary Committee and Justice Department negotiated into the evening Tuesday, trading offers on how many lawmakers would be able to view the report, how many staff members and whether the department would work with the committee to gain access to secret grand jury material. But those talks ultimately stalled.

In a letter sent late Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Nadler that in the face of the committee's contempt vote, Barr would be "compelled to request that the president invoke executive privilege with respect to the materials subject to the subpoena."

It was not immediately clear how such a claim of privilege would work with respect to Mueller's report, which has already been released to the public in redacted form. Executive privilege is the president's power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process.

Nadler said in response to Boyd's letter to the committee that "this is, of course, not how executive privilege works."

"The Department seemed open to sharing these materials with us earlier today. The Department's legal arguments are without credibility, merit, or legal or factual basis," Nadler said.

The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, sharply criticized the Democrats' plan to go ahead with the vote.

"I can't imagine a more illogical hill for a legislator to die on," Collins said in a statement.

If the committee holds Barr in contempt, it would be the first step in what could be a protracted, multipronged court battle between Congress and the Trump administration.

Trump has defied requests from House Democrats since the release of Mueller's report last month, and Democrats are fighting the White House on several fronts as they attempt to learn more about the report, call witnesses and obtain Trump's personal and financial documents.

In a related move, Nadler also threatened to hold former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress if he doesn't testify before the Judiciary committee later this month. Nadler rejected a White House claim that documents McGahn refused to provide despite a subpoena are controlled by the White House and thus McGahn has no legal right to them.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday's negotiations with Nadler's committee.

On Monday, when the Judiciary panel scheduled the vote, Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department has "taken extraordinary steps to accommodate the House Judiciary Committee's requests for information" regarding Mueller's report, but that Nadler had not reciprocated. She noted that Democrats have refused to read the version of Mueller's report with fewer redactions that has been provided to Congress.

A contempt vote against Barr would head to the full House for a vote. If the House were to pass the resolution, it would send a criminal referral to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a Justice Department official who is likely to defend the attorney general.

Democratic House leaders could also file a lawsuit against the Justice Department to obtain the Mueller report, though the case could take months or even years to resolve. Some committee members have suggested they also could fine Barr as he withholds the information.

Republicans have largely united behind the president, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday declaring "case closed" on Mueller's Russia probe and potential obstruction by Trump. McConnell said Democrats are "grieving" the result.

Mueller said he could not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but he did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Mueller didn't charge Trump but wrote that he couldn't exonerate him, either. </s> Washington – Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House intelligence committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller’s investigation but only if the committee didn’t take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday’s meeting – now postponed – on an unspecified “enforcement action” against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller’s report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of “counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production,” and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee’s chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and “will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request.”

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

“We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests,” department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday. </s> WASHINGTON — Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House intelligence committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller's investigation but only if the committee didn't take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday's meeting — now postponed — on an unspecified "enforcement action" against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller's report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of "counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production," and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and "will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

"We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests," department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday. </s> WASHINGTON — Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House Intelligence Committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller's investigation but only if the committee didn't take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday's meeting — now postponed — on an unspecified "enforcement action" against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller's report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of "counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production," and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and "will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

"We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests," department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday. </s> WASHINGTON — Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House intelligence committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller’s investigation but only if the committee didn’t take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday’s meeting — now postponed — on an unspecified “enforcement action” against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller’s report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of “counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production,” and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee’s chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and “will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request.”

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

“We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests,” department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday. </s> • The House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over an unredacted copy of Robert Mueller’s final report on Russian interference.
• Barr provided a partially redacted copy to the public and made multiple attempts to allow certain Democrats to view the report at the Justice Department, but they refused.
• If the contempt charges advance, Barr could face lofty fines or even jail time.
• The last attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress was Eric Holder in 2012 during the Obama administration, but the charges were ultimately tossed out.

WASHINGTON – The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress, a severe penalty for refusing to comply with requests to hand over an unredacted copy of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report in the Russia investigation and its underlying evidence.

The vote fell along party lines at 24 to 16, as Democrats move forward with a multitude of sprawling inquiries into President Donald Trump and his administration.

Contempt of Congress is a serious charge, which can later result in a criminal referral to a US attorney. Though rare, if sought all the way through, maximum penalties can include either a $100,000 fine or one year in jail.

Democrats took the first formal step toward holding Barr in contempt of Congress on Monday. On Tuesday, the Justice Department fired back by threatening to advise President Donald Trump to invoke executive privilege over Mueller’s report in light of Democrats’ actions.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler responded by describing the Justice Department’s threat as “without credibility, merit, or legal or factual basis.”

Read more: Being held in contempt of Congress is one of the most severe punishments on Capitol Hill. Here’s what such a move could mean.

The markup hearing lasted nearly seven hours, during which Republicans and Democrats went back and forth over the merits of holding Barr in contempt.

Republicans like Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, characterized the contempt effort as “a character assassination” and cited opposition to obtaining an unredacted copy of the Mueller report because it would be leaked to the press within 48 hours.

Democrats suggested it was about transparency and getting to the bottom of what has been a long and tumultuous investigation.

While many Democrats said they were just trying to get to the truth, some continued to bring up the issue of impeaching President Donald Trump, something Democrats have been at odds with one another about for some time.

“This committee, to ensure that we get that report because we have lawful responsibilities – constitutional responsibilities – to engage in. One of which is possibly impeachment,” said Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia. “How can we impeach without getting the documents?”

Barr released a partially redacted copy of Mueller’s report in April, but Democrats were unsatisfied and demanded to view the report in full. While Barr had initially offered to provide a copy with even fewer redactions for Democrats to view, they declined.

Tensions between Barr and congressional Democrats have been high for months, but they kicked up a notch in the weeks leading up to the release of the Mueller report.

After Mueller turned in his final report in the Russia probe to Barr in March, the attorney general moved to release a summary of his “principal conclusions” of Mueller’s findings to Congress and the public before making the report available. In the summary, Barr said Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to bring a conspiracy charge against Trump or anyone on his campaign.

Read more: Barr admitted he didn’t look at the underlying evidence before concluding Trump didn’t obstruct justice in the Russia probe

Barr also said Mueller declined to make a “traditional prosecutorial judgment” on whether Trump obstructed justice. The attorney general went on to say prosecutors laid out evidence on “both sides” of the issue and did not come to a conclusion because of “difficult issues of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.”

But when the Justice Department finally released a redacted version of the report – which featured a roadmap of evidence against Trump and 11 potential instances of obstruction of justice – Barr drew immediate backlash for what Democrats claimed was an effort to shield the president by watering down Mueller’s findings ahead of their release.

Read more: The White House is blocking Don McGahn from cooperating with Congress about the Mueller probe

Last week, Barr was set to appear before the House and Senate judiciary committees for back-to-back days of testimony about the Mueller report and his controversial decisions leading up to its release. Hours before he appeared before the Senate panel, it surfaced that Mueller wrote two letters expressing concerns to Barr about the way his findings had been portrayed by the attorney general.

After testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the letters and his oversight of the Russia probe, the Justice Department announced Barr would not appear before the House Judiciary Committee the next day.

The committee launched formal proceedings to hold him in contempt after he missed Monday’s deadline to turn over the unredacted Mueller report and its underlying evidence.

Read more: Over 370 former federal prosecutors say they would have charged Trump with obstruction if he wasn’t president

The last time Congress voted to hold an attorney general in contempt was in 2012, when Republicans were in the majority. Eric Holder, the then-Attorney General for the Barack Obama administration, had repeatedly refused to hand over documents pertaining to the “Fast and Furious” ATF gun walking scandal.

Holder’s contempt vote passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans to punish the top law enforcement officer at the time. Ultimately, a federal judge tossed out the charges and Holder avoided severe penalties.

Other attempts to oust officials for not complying with Congress have taken different routes. During the Obama administration, a small contingent of Republicans repeatedly tried to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. They eventually failed and Koskinen finished his term several months into the Trump presidency. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) — Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House intelligence committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller's investigation but only if the committee didn't take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday's meeting — now postponed — on an unspecified "enforcement action" against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller's report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of "counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production," and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and "will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

"We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests," department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday. </s> Mary Clare Jalonick and Michael Balsamo, The Associated Press 

 



WASHINGTON -- Easing some of the escalating tension between Congress and the White House, the House intelligence committee postponed efforts to enforce a subpoena against the Justice Department on Wednesday after officials agreed to hand over a cache of documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report.

The agreement came a day after the department said it would be willing to provide documents from Mueller's investigation but only if the committee didn't take action against Attorney General William Barr. The panel had been expected to vote at Wednesday's meeting -- now postponed -- on an unspecified "enforcement action" against Barr or the department after they refused to hand over an unredacted version of Mueller's report and other documents related to the Russia probe.

Democrats have accused President Donald Trump and Barr of trying to stonewall and block their constitutional oversight duties. A separate House panel voted earlier this month to hold Barr in contempt after he failed to comply with a similar subpoena.

The Justice Department will begin turning over 12 categories of "counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production," and that process should be completed by the end of next week, Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee's chairman, said in a statement.

Schiff, a California Democrat, warned that the subpoena would remain in effect and "will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told Schiff in a letter Tuesday that the Justice Department would be willing to make less-redacted portions of the report available to members of the committee and that officials were reviewing troves of investigative documents that were also requested by the committee.

"We appreciate the continued dialogue with the Committee and look forward to working toward appropriately accommodating their requests," department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Wednesday.
The United States House Committee on the Judiciary votes to hold United States Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress after he failed to comply with a subpoena ordering him to provide them with the full, unredacted version of the Mueller Report last week. The full House will vote on the measure in the near future.