Editor’s note: This story is breaking and will be updated as it develops.
On Monday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler stated that he brokered an agreement with the Justice Department to start providing Congress with various documents from the Mueller Report, which relate to obstruction of justice. Axios is reporting that Nadler announced the deal prior a vote scheduled for Tuesday, when the House was to decide on approval of the resolution to enforce the subpoena of Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn.
After reaching the deal, the House Judiciary Committee confirmed that it would “hold the criminal contempt process in abeyance” for Attorney General Bill Barr.
Statement from House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler:
“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.”
Politico’s Andrew Desiderio reports that the House will still move forward with a resolution that will authorize committee chairs to go to civil court to enforce their subpoenas.
Barr had originally rejected a House Judiciary subpoena to turn over the complete and unredacted Mueller report, while former White House counsel Don McGahn was blocked from turning over documents by the White House .
