Tornado Alley (PROG)

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UPDATE: Attorney General William Barr declines to testify before House panel

Attorney General William P. Barr told a House panel on Wednesday that he will not testify about special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report, raising the prospect that Democrats will hold the nation’s top law enforcement official in contempt of Congress. Barr had been scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday about his handling of Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

But Barr balked as the committee wanted a counsel to question him alongside lawmakers, and congressional Republicans blamed the Democrats. “It’s a shame members of the House Judiciary Committee won’t get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday, because Chairman (Jerrold) Nadler chose to torpedo our hearing,” said Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.), the panel’s top Republican.

Democrats have discussed holding Barr in contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena and threatening to skip the scheduled hearing, according to several lawmakers and officials familiar with the plan. During a pair of closed-door meetings Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the committee decided that it would probably make a push for a Barr contempt citation if he refuses to testify Thursday or ignores their subpoena for the full, unredacted report by Mueller.

Lawmakers and officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss private deliberations, cautioned that no final decision has been made. Barr was supposed to hand over the full Mueller report by 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-democrats-consider-holding-barr-in-contempt-of-congress/2019/05/01/a291313a-6c22-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5_story.html