Democrats Win As Barr Turns Over Mueller's Trump Obstruction Evidence

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Democrats have won a major victory as Attorney General William Barr has agreed to turn over Mueller’s evidence on Trump obstruction of justice.

Barr agrees to hand over Trump obstruction evidence

House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:

I am pleased to announce that the Department of Justice has agreed to begin complying with our committee’s subpoena by opening Robert Mueller’s most important files to us, providing us with key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct. The Department will share the first of these documents with us later today. All members of the Judiciary Committee—Democrats and Republicans alike—will be able to view them. These documents will allow us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel.

Given our conversations with the Department, I will hold the criminal contempt process in abeyance for now. We have agreed to allow the Department time to demonstrate compliance with this agreement. If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps. If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies. It is critical that Congress is able to obtain the information we need to do our jobs, ensuring no one is above the law and bringing the American public the transparency they deserve.

The Criminal Contempt Threat Caused Barr To Cave

Barr turned over the evidence just before the House was about to vote on holding him in criminal contempt. The contempt threat worked. Barr did not want to be held in criminal contempt, so he will be turning over Mueller’s evidence to the House Judiciary Committee.

Speaker Pelosi’s strategy is working. Democrats are getting the evidence to build the case for impeachment, as Barr’s cave is the first sign that Trump can’t hold off Democrats forever.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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