RTWed, 08 May 2019 14:26 UTC
© Gage Skidmore/CC by-SA 2.0/MGNUS President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump has invoked executive privilege over the unredacted Mueller report and other subpoenaed materials, the Justice Department has said.
The decision was announced by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.
The committee was poised to vote on a contempt citation against Attorney General William Barr over failure to present the unredacted Mueller report and other materials, that have been demanded through subpoena. Boyd wrote in the letter:
"We are disappointed that you have rejected the Department of Justice's request to delay the vote of the Committee on the Judiciary on a contempt finding against the Attorney General. Accordingly, this is to advise you that the President has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials."
The White House defended Trump's move, stating that the president had "no other option" besides invoking executive privilege, as he faced
"blatant abuse of power" from the committee's chairman Jerrold Nadler.
Democrats have sought greater transparency surrounding the special counsel investigation into President Trump's alleged Russia ties, requesting a complete, unredacted version of the special counsel's final report, as well as testimony from Robert Mueller and Attorney General William Barr.
The Department of Justice recently offered to allow select lawmakers to see a more complete version of the report, but for many Democrats that was not sufficient.The House Judiciary Committee, led by Democratic chairman Jerry Nadler, is to vote to hold Barr in contempt of Congress on Wednesday over his handling of the report, which likely prompted the White House's assertion of executive power.
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White House press secretary Sarah Sanders: "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."
The Justice Department warned Nadler on Tuesday that if he moves forward on the vote, a request will be made to President Donald Trump to do just that.
In a letter to Nadler Tuesday evening, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said the panel's demand was "unreasonable" and urged a delay in the vote, according to NBC News. "If the committee decides to proceed in spite of this request, however, the Attorney General will advise the President to make a protective assertion of executive privilege," Boyd wrote in the letter.
With the Judiciary Committee voting 22-12 to hold Barr in contempt, it will have to go to a full vote in the Democrat-controlled House.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was noncommittal on whether she would proceed with a vote to hold Barr in contempt.
"Let's hope that they can make their own accommodations before that," the speaker said Tuesday night while speaking to reporters off the House floor, a reference to the Trump administration.
But Pelosi said at a Washington Post event that she believes Barr should be held in contempt, according to The Hill.
Trump charged in a tweet prior to the vote that Democrats are the ones obstructing justice by targeting Barr, who is now investigating the circumstances that resulted in Mueller's Russian collusion probe.
"'The real "Obstruction of Justice" is what the Democrats are trying to do to this Attorney General,'" Trump tweeted, attributing the quote to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee - Jordan made the comment during an appearance on Fox Business Network.
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