DOJ moves to fend off Barr contempt vote

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Politico

The Justice Department on Monday tried to head off a contempt of Congress proceeding against Attorney General William Barr, offering House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) the chance to negotiate about the committee’s subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted report.

In a letter to Nadler, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd invited the chairman to a negotiation session on Wednesday to discuss an “acceptable accommodation” that would potentially give more lawmakers access to a less-redacted version of the report, in addition to “possible disclosure of certain materials” cited in Mueller’s report.

Boyd’s letter came hours after the committee took its first formal step toward holding Barr in contempt of Congress for defying the panel’s subpoena for Mueller's unredacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the underlying evidence.

The panel said it planned to consider a contempt citation against Barr on Wednesday morning. A vote of approval from the Democrat-led committee would send the measure to the full House for consideration later this month. Nadler said he would put the contempt proceedings on hold if the Justice Department engages in a “good-faith” effort to give Democrats access to the requested information. A spokeswoman for Nadler did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Boyd’s new letter.

“The attorney general’s failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report,” Nadler said in a statement before the DOJ released its letter.

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So who will hold Democrats in contempt?