WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said he would hold off enforcing a subpoena against Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department agreed to turn over materials relating to an investigation into Russian election interference.

The decision ended a standoff between the committee and the Justice Department for access to counterintelligence reports generated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his probe of President Donald Trump and his associates.

"The Department of Justice has accepted our offer of a first step towards compliance with our subpoena, and this week will begin turning over to the Committee twelve categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence materials as part of an initial rolling production," committee chairman, Adam Schiff, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Schiff said he was postponing a business meeting where the panel was to discuss enforcing the subpoena, but said it will remain in effect "and will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request."

Mueller's team had produced counterintelligence reports based on evidence about Russia's attempts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and passed them to the FBI and the Justice Department.

Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official and a Trump appointee, on May 2 snubbed the House intelligence committee, which voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for not handing over a full, unredacted Mueller report.

Last week, Schiff told Barr in a letter the Justice Department had failed to comply with a subpoena his committee issued for documents and materials related to Mueller's investigation.

He said the committee could consider enforcement action against the department at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday if the requested materials are not produced.

In a letter to Schiff on Tuesday, Justice Department official Stephen Boyd said the department was willing to discuss a possible plan for giving Intelligence Committee members and staff closed-doors access to additional material if Schiff does not move forward with his threats to hold the department in contempt. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on Friday rejected Attorney General William Barr’s proposal to allow them access to a less-redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation report.

In an April 19 letter to the attorney general, six Democratic lawmakers led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer instead reiterated their demand for Barr to release the unredacted Mueller report and underlying evidence to Congress. But they also said they were open to discussing a “reasonable accommodation” with the Justice Department.

The letter was also signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, top Senate Judiciary Committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein and top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat Mark Warner.

“Your proposed accommodation - which among other things would prohibit discussion of the full report, even with other committee members - is not acceptable,” the Democrats wrote.

The lawmakers said access to the full Mueller report and underlying evidence is necessary for Congress to fulfill its “constitutional responsibilities”.

“This includes considering whether legislation is needed in light of the findings contained in Special Counsel Mueller’s report and the attorney general’s determination that no prosecution is warranted despite those facts,” the letter said.

Also on Friday, Nadler issued a subpoena to obtain the full report. </s> WASHINGTON — Lawmakers reacted to the bombshell news on Friday that former FBI Director Robert Mueller and the special counsel finished their investigative report on Russian interference in the 2016 elections by demanding that Barr release the final report to the public.

Whether or not that happens will ultimately be at the discretion of Attorney General William Barr.

Read more:The House just voted 420-0 to demand Robert Mueller's final report be made public

"Congress and the American people deserve to judge the facts for themselves. The Special Counsel's report must be provided to Congress immediately, and the Attorney General should swiftly prepare a declassified version of the report for the public," said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. "Nothing short of that will suffice."

Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, added, that "any attempt by the Trump Administration to cover up the results of this investigation into Russia's attack on our democracy would be unacceptable."

In a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said "it is imperative for Mr. Barr to make the full report public and provide its underlying documentation and findings to Congress."

"Attorney General Barr must not give President Trump, his lawyers or his staff any 'sneak preview' of Special Counsel Mueller's findings or evidence, and the White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those findings or evidence are made public," the two Democratic leaders said.

"The Special Counsel's investigation focused on questions that go to the integrity of our democracy itself: whether foreign powers corruptly interfered in our elections, and whether unlawful means were used to hinder that investigation," they added. "The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency."

New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that he had been informed by Barr of the Mueller's conclusion, again demanding the findings be given to Congress as soon as possible.

"We look forward to getting the full Mueller report and related materials," he wrote on Twitter. "Transparency and the public interest demand nothing less. The need for public faith in the rule of law must be the priority."

Nadler's counterpart in House Judiciary ranking Republican Rep. Doug Collins said in a statement he expects the findings to be released to both Congress and the public as is consistent with the law.

"After nearly two years, the special counsel has concluded his investigation, and I look forward to reviewing Attorney General Barr's report carefully, when it becomes available," he said. "I fully expect the Justice Department to release the special counsel's report to this committee and to the public without delay and to the maximum extent permitted by law."

The House of Representatives has already passed a resolution demanding Mueller's final report become public, but it is nonbinding and largely symbolic.

In addition, many of the 2020 presidential hopefuls running for the Democratic nomination weighed in, demanding the report's immediate release.

"Attorney General Barr—release the Mueller report to the American public," Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote on Twitter. "Now."

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker tweeted the report needs to be made public "immediately."

"Special counsel Mueller's report should be made public without any delay," New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wrote on Twitter. "The American people have a right to know its findings." Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro wrote on Twitter, "The American people deserve to know the full truth about Russia's interference in our democracy. The Special Counsel report must be publicly released in its entirety."

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont cited President Donald Trump's own words in a statement on the Mueller report Friday: "As Donald Trump said, 'Let it come out.'"

"I call on the Trump administration to make Special Counsel Mueller's full report public as soon as possible. No one, including the president, is above the law, Sanders said.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke simply declared, "Release the Mueller report to the American people."

Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, the first Democrat to enter the 2020 race, made a point of noting the taxpayers funded the investigation and therefore deserve to see its findings.

"You, the American people, paid for the Mueller Report and you, the American people, deserve to see it," he wrote on Twitter. "Make your voices heard!" </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> 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> 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> 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> 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.”

TRUMP CAMPAIGN GOES ON POST-MUELLER ATTACK AGAINST 'OBAMA-ERA DOJ AND FBI,' WARNS 'JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED'

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.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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.
The U.S. Justice Department agrees to provide the House Intelligence Committee with intelligence files from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.