U.S. House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to obtain the full Russia investigation report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying that a redacted version “leaves most of Congress in the dark. “

 

 "My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice,” Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (Democrat-New York), said in a statement on April 19, the day after the release of the partially redacted 448-page report.

 

 Attorney General William Barr sent the Mueller report to Congress, blacking out several types of material, including classified information, material pertaining to ongoing investigations, and grand jury evidence.

 

 Mueller corroborated U.S. intelligence conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and also documented President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine his inquiry, but Mueller concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove Trump and his team committed a crime by colluding with Russia officials.

 

 The report also points to areas where Trump and his associates could still face legal problems, as well as the potential for impeachment proceedings.

 

 “The redactions appear to be significant. We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the special counsel developed to make this case," Nadler said. He said the report points to "serious instances of wrongdoing" by Trump.

 

 But the committee's top Republican, Doug Collins, said the subpoena was "wildly overbroad" and that Trump already declined to assert executive privilege in a move of "unprecedented openness."

 

 He said that Nadler was rushing the process for political gain.

 

 The subpoena gives Barr until May 1 to produce the materials requested.

 

 The subpoena is the opening shot in what could be a lengthy legal battle. If the Justice Department doesn't respond, Democrats could hold officials in contempt of Congress or eventually fight the battle in court.

 

 Mueller’s report painstakingly details evidence about Russian election meddling and confirms the previous findings of the U.S. intelligence community of a two-pronged Russian strategy to manipulate U.S. public opinion through e-mail hacking and a disinformation campaign.

 

 "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” the Mueller report said.

 

 However, Russia’s Foreign Ministry falsely claimed on April 19 that Mueller "admitted" his investigation did not find evidence of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

 

 "There is nothing there to catch attention. In fact, it confirms the absence of any arguments proving Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. election,” said Georgy Borisenko, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North America Department. “There is not a single piece of evidence. In fact, the report’s authors have admitting having no proof,” Borisenko claimed.

 

 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 19 also dismissed the evidence contained in the Mueller report, saying the Kremlin does not accept the meddling accusations.

 

 “As a whole, the report as before does not present any reasonable proof at all that Russia allegedly meddled in the electoral process in the United States,” Peskov told journalists in Moscow a day after the publication of the redacted version of the document.

 

 Among the most pointed allegations leveled earlier by Mueller regarding Russian interference was the indictment of a dozen Russian military intelligence officers who, he said, were behind the hacking and theft of Democratic Party e-mails, e-mails that were released in the heat of the 2016 U.S. election.

 

 While the Mueller report concluded there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove Trump or members of his team colluded with Russia's state-sponsored meddling campaign, it said Trump and at least 17 of his campaign officials and advisers did have more than 100 contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign. </s> The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 24-17 to authorize a subpoena for the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the U.S election and alleged obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump, NBC News reported.

The committee took the action after Attorney General William Barr told Congress that he intends later this month to provide a report to lawmakers with certain material removed. The subpoena for the nearly 400-page report, along with underlying documents, will not be issued until that is approved by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

The resolution calls for the final Mueller report as well as “any accompanying exhibits, annexes, tables, appendices, other attachments and all evidence referenced in the report” as well as “underlying evidence collected, materials prepared, or documents used by” Mueller’s office.

The measure also authorizes the committee to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony from five individuals: former White House counsel Don McGahn, former Trump adviser and White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House communications director Hope Hicks, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and former White House deputy counsel Ann Donaldson. </s> House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., issued a subpoena Friday to obtain the "complete and unredacted" version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, as well as the underlying materials -- the next step in what is almost certain to be a lengthy political and legal battle between Democrats and Republicans over the report.

"This includes, but is not limited to, all summaries, exhibits, indices, tables of contents or other tables or figures, appendices, supplements, addenda or any other attachments whether written or attached in a separate electronic format," the subpoena says.

Nadler's push comes a day after a redacted version of the report was made public. The White House has hailed the report, which found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in 2016, as a victory.

But Democrats have pointed to Mueller's review of 10 instances where Trump may be considered to have obstructed justice -- although the special counsel did not conclude that Trump committed a crime -- as well as other details in the report as justification for Congress to see the full report, and for Mueller to testify to Congress.

Nadler and other Democrats have been particularly opposed to Attorney General William Barr's decision to release a redacted version of the report to Congress. Barr said that he, along with special counsel, identified four areas of the report that needed redactions, including grand jury material, information the intelligence community believes would reveal intelligence sources and methods, any material that could interfere with ongoing prosecutions, and information that could implicate the privacy or reputational interests of “peripheral players.”

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But Nadler has claimed that the committee needs to see the full report, as well as the underlying evidence, in order to determine any further action they may choose to take against the president or his associates.

"My Committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice," he said in a statement. "The redactions appear to be significant. We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the Special Counsel developed to make this case. Even the redacted version of the report outlines serious instances of wrongdoing by President Trump and some of his closest associates. It now falls to Congress to determine the full scope of the alleged misconduct and to decide what steps we must take going forward."

Nadler is requesting the information on May 1, a day before Barr is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. If the Justice Department doesn't respond, Democrats could hold officials in contempt of Congress or fight it out in court. Nadler's committee also holds the power to launch impeachment proceedings, something that a number of House Democrats and 2020 presidential hopefuls have indicated they may support.

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Republicans immediately pushed back on Nadler's demand. Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga., accused him of "rushing to subpoena material" and of disregarding "good faith transparency without even taking the department up on its offer to review material under the redactions."

"As a result, today's subpoena is wildly overbroad," he said. "It commands the department to provide Congress with millions of records that would be plainly against the law to share because the vast majority of these documents came as a result of nearly 2,800 subpoenas from a grand jury that is still ongoing."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> The Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee has approved subpoenas to get the full, unedited report and other evidence related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The committee voted 24-17 along party lines on April 3 to authorize Chairman Jerrold Nadler to issue subpoenas to the Justice Department for the final report.

Included in the subpoenas would be any underlying evidence or materials prepared for the investigation by the special counsel.

The action also authorized Nadler to subpoena documents and testimony from five former Trump aides, including ex-political adviser Steve Bannon and former White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

Democrats in the House had given Attorney General William Barr until April 2 to provide the full report to Congress.

The Justice Department did not meet the deadline. Barr told Nadler that an edited version of the 300-page report would be provided in mid-April, "if not sooner."

Democrats have expressed concerns that Barr, recently appointed by President Donald Trump, would use redactions to cover up any evidence of wrongdoing by the president.

"The Trump administration has an idea. They want to redact the Mueller report before they provide it to Congress," Nadler said.

Mueller officially closed his investigation when he submitted the report on March 22. Barr then sent a four-page letter to Congress, detailing Mueller's "principal conclusions."

Barr wrote that the special counsel did not find that the Trump presidential campaign coordinated or conspired with Russia to win the election and did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee was expected to vote on Wednesday to subpoena Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report and underlying evidence from his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

If the motion passes, it would be a marked escalation of congressional pressure on the Trump administration to hand over all that Mueller documented during his 22-month probe, including grand jury evidence.

Lawmakers were expected to vote along party lines to authorize the panel’s Democratic chairman, Jerrold Nadler, to subpoena Mueller’s material, as well as documents and testimony from five former Trump aides, including one-time political advisor Steve Bannon and former White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

The committee’s focus shifted to subpoenas when it became clear that Attorney General William Barr would ignore a Democratic demand for him to turn over the full report by April 2. Barr has pledged to share a redacted copy of the nearly 400-page report with Congress and the public by mid-April, if not sooner.

Democrats, who hold a seven-seat majority on the 41-member Judiciary Committee, fear that Barr could use redactions to suppress evidence of potential misconduct by Trump and his campaign that could be vital to their congressional oversight agenda.

Barr’s March 24 summary of the Mueller report said the special counsel did not establish that Trump campaign officials conspired with Russia during the presidential election but also did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice. Barr also said Mueller’s team had not found enough proof to warrant bringing obstruction charges against the president.

Trump has long denied any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. Moscow says it did not try to interfere in the election, even though U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that it secretly trying to sway U.S. voters in Trump’s favor.

A subpoena would open a new legal front against the Trump administration by Democrats who won control of the House in last year’s congressional elections. But it is not clear if the Justice Department would simply hand over all the documents they now seek.

The Department could ignore the subpoena, running the risk of being held in contempt of Congress, and prepare for a lengthy battle in the courts.

Democrats have pledged to fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce a subpoena and obtain the full report.

“We need that report turned over. Look at every prior case of independent counsel and special counsel, they’ve turned over the entire report within a day or two,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, a House Judiciary Democrat. “What’s taking place here is a sharp break from precedent.”

It was not clear when Nadler might start issuing subpoenas, if authorized to do so.

Trump took a dig on Tuesday at Nadler and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, one of the president’s strongest critics in Congress about the Russia investigation.

“There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!”

Republicans contend that Barr is being transparent under Justice Department regulations adopted after former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the 1990s, which allow the attorney general to be circumspect in what he releases. They also contend that Democrats are seeking grand jury material that federal law precludes the Justice Department from sharing.

“It’s unfortunate that a body meant to uphold the law has grown so desperate that it’s patently misrepresenting the law,”

Representative Doug Collins, the committee’s top Republican, said this week.

The committee was due to meet to consider the subpoena resolution after Nadler and five other Democratic House oversight committee chairs wrote to Barr, giving him one last chance to produce an unredacted Mueller report.

In addition to McGahn and Bannon, the committee was expected to authorize subpoenas for former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former White House deputy counsel Ann Donaldson.

The five former Trump aides were among 81 people, agencies and other entities that received document requests on March 4 as part of the committee’s obstruction and corruption investigation of Trump and his associates. </s> The House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to authorize the issuance of a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full and unredacted report.

The move, which was approved on a 24-17 party-line vote, is one step closer to forcing Attorney General William Barr to turn over the roughly 400-page report.

He has said he plans to publicly release the documents with redactions later this month.

“We need these materials to fulfill our constitutional obligations,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the committee chair, ahead of the vote.

The vote gives Nadler authorization to issue a subpoena to the Justice Department for the final report, its exhibits and any underlying evidence or materials prepared for Mueller’s probe.

He has not said when, or if, he would do so.

The Democrat-led committee also approved subpoenas for five of President Trump’s former top advisers: Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Reince Priebus, Donald McGahn and Ann Donaldson. The five served as key witnesses in Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

Earlier, the committee rejected a GOP amendment that sought to block the subpoena from seeking grand jury information.

But afterward, Nadler told reporters he would “absolutely” go to court to get that information.

Nadler earlier hinted that he would delay the issuance of the subpoena to give Barr “time to change his mind.”

The move to compel the Justice Department to release the Mueller report comes one day after Barr missed a Nadler-imposed deadline to turn over the massive document. He told lawmakers last week that he couldn’t make the deadline but promised to release it in mid-April, if not sooner. </s> WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted to authorize a subpoena for the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the U.S. election and alleged obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump.

The committee took the action after Attorney General William Barr told Congress that he intends later this month to provide a report to lawmakers with certain material removed. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., wanted to have the subpoena power ready in case Barr doesn't comply with Democrats' demands for the nearly 400-page report.

"The Constitution charges Congress with holding the president accountable for alleged official misconduct. That job requires us to evaluate the evidence for ourselves — not the attorney general's summary, not a substantially redacted synopsis, but the full report and the underlying evidence," Nadler said in his opening remarks Wednesday, adding that so far, Barr has "refused" to work with him to help obtain access to materials the chairman said his committee is entitled to under the law.

Nadler indicated in his opening statement that he doesn’t plan to immediately issue the subpoena and would “give [Barr] time to change his mind.”

“But if we cannot reach an accommodation, then we will have no choice but to issue subpoenas for these materials,” Nadler warned. "And if the department still refuses, then it should be up to a judge — not the president or his political appointee — to decide whether or not it is appropriate for the committee to review the complete record.”

The resolution calls for the final Mueller report as well as “any accompanying exhibits, annexes, tables, appendices, other attachments and all evidence referenced in the report” as well as “underlying evidence collected, materials prepared, or documents used by” Mueller’s office.

The measure also authorizes the committee to issue subpoenas for documents and testimony from five individuals: former White House counsel Don McGahn, former Trump adviser and White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House communications director Hope Hicks, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and former White House deputy counsel Ann Donaldson.

“We believe that these individuals may have received documents from the White House in preparation for their interviews with the special counsel. We also believe that these individuals may have turned this information over to their private attorneys,” Nadler said.

During the meeting, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., introduced an amendment that would have eliminated grand jury information from the documents requested in the subpoena, which failed on a party-line vote.

Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., ranking member on Judiciary, blasted Democrats’ decision to move toward issuing subpoenas, saying that the move is “reckless and that they’re “desperately searching for something on the president.”

“This is all preemptive,” Collins said. “Five of the people listed in this subpoena have been cooperating.”

He also argued that the subpoena for the Mueller report would command the attorney general to break the law. "The attorney general's entire mandate is to enforce the law, and he’s expressly forbidden from providing grand jury material outside of the department, with very limited and narrow exceptions. Congress is not one of those exceptions, and the chairman knows it," Collins said.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, suggested that Democrats should just be patient. “The attorney general has said he’s going to turn this over in a matter of days. Let’s wait.”

Barr said in a letter last Friday to Nadler and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that he planned to release the report to Congress “in mid-April, if not sooner,” but also said that there would be redactions.

In a letter to Barr on Monday, Nadler and five other Democratic committee chairmen wrote that that pledge wasn't enough. “On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee plans to begin the process of authorizing subpoenas for the report and underlying evidence and materials," they wrote. "While we hope to avoid resort [sic] to compulsory process, if the Department is unwilling to produce the report to Congress in unredacted form, then we will have little choice but to take such action."

During the meeting, several Republicans repeated an argument raised by Trump a day earlier in which they claimed that Nadler strongly opposed the release of independent counsel Ken Starr’s report on President Bill Clinton related to the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Nadler, however, said he wanted to set the record straight.

“In 1998, the debate was not about Congress receiving evidence. Congress had already received the full, 445-page report and 17 boxes of additional documents, including grand jury material. We are owed that same opportunity today,” he said.

"In 1998, the central debate was about the public release of some of the materials accompanying the Starr report — materials that Congress already had, and that described private sexual acts in lurid detail," he added. "Congress has no business broadcasting graphic accounts of the president’s sex life. It was inappropriate in 1998. It would be inappropriate today.” </s> The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to subpoena the Department of Justice to turn over special counsel Robert Mueller’s entire unredacted report, as well as the materials supporting its findings.

The Hill reported the resolution authorizing multiple subpoenas passed the committee in a straight party line vote, 24-7.

“The resolution also authorizes the committee’s Democratic chairman to subpoena testimony related to the special counsel’s report,” The Hill reported.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he would give Attorney General William Barr a limited number of days to comply with the demand before issuing the subpoena for the full unredacted report on the findings of Mueller’s investigation into collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia.

“This committee requires the full report, because it is our job, not the attorney general’s, to determine whether or not President Trump has abused his office,” Nadler argued Wednesday before the committee. “We must make it harder for future presidents to behave in this way.”

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Barr has promised to deliver as much of the Mueller report as he legally can to Congress, without redactions, by the middle of April.

The attorney general has noted that Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) prevents him from disclosing matters occurring before a grand jury, including the testimony of witnesses, without a judge’s approval.

“I will give him time to change his mind,” Nadler said, according to The Hill. “But if we cannot reach an accommodation then we will have no choice but to issue subpoenas for these materials.

“And if the department still refuses, then it should be up to a judge — not the president and not his political appointee — to decide whether the committee can review the complete record.”

House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia accused Democrats of engaging in “political theater” and defended Barr, saying he is following the law.

“The regulations we put in place are still there,” Collins said. “At this point in time, the attorney general, although he is being smeared, repeatedly, is doing exactly what the regulation says.”

Nadler told reporters after the committee meeting that he is not willing to negotiate with the DOJ concerning his demand the entire report and its underlying materials be handed over.

“The committee must see everything, as was done in every prior instance,” he said. “We handle confidential materials all the time. We have facilities to do that. We make those judgments.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, the New York Democrat addressed the controversy regarding his opposition in 1998 to publicly releasing independent counsel Ken Starr’s complete report regarding then-President Bill Clinton because it contained “salacious” material and unverified testimony versus calling for all the materials to be released to Congress now.

He said the controversy in 1998 was releasing materials from the Starr report that Congress already had.

“Congress has no business publishing graphic accounts of the president’s sex life,” Nadler said. “We are dealing now not with the president’s private affairs, but with a sustained attack on the integrity of the republic by the president and his closest advisers.”

Trump responded to Nadler and his fellow Democrats’ demands for the entire report and its underlying materials on Tuesday, saying, “It’s ridiculous. We went through two years of the Mueller investigation. …

“So there’s no collusion, there’s no obstruction and now we’re going to start this process all over again? I think it’s a disgrace.”

The president said of the Democrats, “Anything we give them will never be enough.”

He pledged to stand by what Barr decides should be released.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee formally issued a subpoena on Friday demanding that the Justice Department hand over to Congress an unredacted version of Robert S. Mueller III’s report and all of the evidence underlying it by May 1.

The subpoena, one of the few issued thus far by House Democrats, escalates a fight with Attorney General William P. Barr over what material Congress is entitled to see from the special counsel’s nearly two-year investigation. The chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, asked for all evidence, including summaries of witness interviews and classified intelligence.

“My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice,” Mr. Nadler said in a statement. “Even the redacted version of the report outlines serious instances of wrongdoing by President Trump and some of his closest associates. It now falls to Congress to determine the full scope of that alleged misconduct and to decide what steps we must take going forward.”

Mr. Nadler’s deadline falls a day before Mr. Barr is scheduled to testify publicly before the Judiciary Committee in what is expected to be an explosive session where Democrats plan to excoriate Mr. Barr’s handling of the report and Republicans will urge their colleagues to accept that there was no criminality and move on.
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary approves a subpoena to obtain, in its full and unredacted form, the final report written as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's recently concluded investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.