Rhode Island Democratic Congressman David Cicilline told CNN’s New Day this morning that the American people deserve to see the Mueller report. And he also said that he will take any and all steps necessary to make sure that happens. He said that he will even begin impeachment proceedings in the House to assure that Mueller’s report is made public.
““We are going to use … legal remedies, legislative remedies, court remedies if we need to. This report belongs to the American people. They have a right to know the truth,” Rep. @davidcicilline says about the Mueller report.”
“We are going to use … legal remedies, legislative remedies, court remedies if we need to. This report belongs to the American people. They have a right to know the truth,” Rep. @davidcicilline says about the Mueller report. https://t.co/93KRSTd2rq pic.twitter.com/STwZr62k7J
— CNN This Morning (@CNNThisMorning) February 22, 2019
New Day co-host John Berman discussed with Rep. Cicilline the legal and legislative routes that could possibly be taken to assure that the Mueller report is made public. The concern is that new Attorney General Bill Barr — a Republican and Trump supporter — will try to suppress public distribution of the report in order to protect the president.
In the discussion, Berman raised the issue of the “historical precedent” set by Watergate Special Counsel Leon Jaworski, saying:
“My reading of the historical precedent is that the reason the House Judiciary Committee was able to see the evidence collected by the special prosecutor was because a judge determined there was already an open impeachment inquiry.”
“Are you willing to open formal impeachment proceedings if that’s the only way to see the evidence?”
Cicilline responded by making clear that in his opinion the large number of current investigations into the president gave them more than enough “basis for Congress to demand the report.”
However, the congressman also said that he is prepared to pursue all legal strategies necessary to accomplish their goal. Berman asked for clarity on the impeachment question, saying:
“You are not at impeachment yet, even just as a means for leverage here?”
“I can only speak for myself,” Cicilline replied, saying it was “critical” for Congress to see the report:
“It may, in fact, have facts which support initiating impeachment proceedings and we cannot be precluded from seeing it. If we have to have a perfunctory impeachment motion to open it up in order to access those materials, I think it’s critical that we do it.”
This is the first time we have seen a discussion concerning the need to open up impeachment proceedings in order to force Attorney General Barr to turn over Mueller’s final report to the House of Representatives.
One thing that is clear from Rep. Cicilline’s comments is that he and his colleagues in the House Democratic caucus are ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to make sure they get their hands on the work product of Bob Mueller’s very lengthy investigation. And they will be supported by Democratic senators as well.
This means that if Attorney General William Barr refuses to turn over Robert Mueller’s report to Congress, then that may very well lead to the impeachment of Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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