''The Attorney General's March 24
letter indicates that the Special Counsel found that President Trump may
have criminally obstructed the Department's investigation of Russia's
interference in the 2016 election and related matters.'' --- Letter
from six House Committee chairs to William Barr
https://nadler.house.gov/components/redirect/r.aspx?ID=471137-70950625
April 1, 2019
The Honorable William P. Barr
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Attorney General Barr:
On March 25, 2019, we sent you a letter requesting that you produce
to Congress the full report of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and
its underlying evidence by Tuesday, April 2, 2019. “To the extent you
believe the applicable law limits your ability” to produce the entire
report, we urged that you “begin the process of consultation with us
immediately” to resolve those issues without delay.[1]
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. While we hope to avoid resort 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.
As Chairman Nadler explained in his phone conversation with you on
March 27, Congress requires a complete and unedited copy of the Special
Counsel’s report, as well as access to the evidence and materials
underlying that report. During your confirmation hearing in January,
you stated that your “goal will be to provide as much transparency as I
can consistent with the law.” As such, if the Department believes it is
unable to produce any of these materials in full due to rules governing
grand jury secrecy, it should seek leave from the district court to
produce those materials to Congress—as it has done in analogous
situations in the past. To the extent you believe any other types of
redactions are necessary, we again urge you to engage in an immediate
consultation to address and alleviate any concerns you have about
providing that information to Congress.[2]
We also reiterate our request that you appear before the Judiciary
Committee as soon as possible—not in a month, as you have offered, but
now, so that you can explain your decisions to first provide Congress
with your characterization of the Mueller report as opposed to the
report itself; to initiate a redaction process that withholds critical
information from Congress; and to assume for yourself final authority
over matters within Congress’s constitutional purview. In addition, as
Chairman Nadler also requested on his call with you, we ask for your
commitment to refrain from interfering with Special Counsel Mueller
testifying before the Judiciary Committee—and before any other relevant
committees—after the report has been released regarding his
investigation and findings.
Congress is, as a matter of law, entitled to each of the categories
of information you proposed to redact from the Special Counsel’s report
in your March 29 letter.[3] In the attached appendix we provide a more
complete legal analysis of each of the potential redaction categories
your letter identified. We expect the Department will take all
necessary steps without further delay—including seeking leave from the
court to disclose the limited portions of the report that may involve
grand jury materials—in order to satisfy your promise of transparency
and to allow Congress to fulfill its own constitutional
responsibilities.[4]
Full release of the report to Congress is consistent with both
congressional intent and the interests of the American public. On March
14, 2019, by a vote of 420-0, the House unanimously passed H. Con. Res.
24, a resolution calling for “the full release” of the Special Counsel’s
report to Congress, as well as the public release of the Special
Counsel’s report except to the extent the disclosure of “any portion
thereof is expressly prohibited by law.” The American people have also
consistently and overwhelmingly supported release of the full report.
The President himself has likewise called for its release in full.
The allegations at the center of Special Counsel Mueller’s
investigation strike at the core of our democracy. Congress urgently
needs his full, unredacted report and its underlying evidence in order
to fulfill its constitutional role, including its legislative,
appropriations, and oversight responsibilities. Congress can and has
historically been provided with sensitive, unredacted, and classified
material that cannot be provided to the general public. In addition,
the American people deserve to be fully informed about these issues of
extraordinary public interest, and therefore need to see the report and
findings in Special Counsel Mueller’s own words to the fullest extent
possible.
For all these reasons, we hope you will produce to Congress an
unredacted report and underlying materials to avoid the need for
compulsory process.
Sincerely,
__________________________________
Jerrold Nadler
Chairman
House Committee on the Judiciary
__________________________________
Maxine Waters
Chairwoman
House Committee on Financial Services
__________________________________
Elijah E. Cummings
Chairman
House Committee on Oversight and Reform
__________________________________
Richard E. Neal
Chairman
House Committee on Ways and Means
_________________________________
Adam Schiff
Chairman
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
______________________________
Eliot L. Engel
Chairman
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
[1] Letter from Chairpersons Jerrold Nadler, H Comm. on the
Judiciary, Elijah Cummings H. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, Adam
Schiff, H. Perm. Select. Comm. on Intelligence, Maxine Waters, H. Comm.
on Fin. Servs., Richard Neal, House Comm. on Ways & Means, and Eliot
Engel, H. Comm. on Foreign Affairs, to Att’y Gen. William P. Barr (Mar.
25, 2019). See also Letter from Chairpersons Jerrold Nadler, H
Comm. on the Judiciary, Elijah Cummings H. Comm. on Oversight &
Reform, Adam Schiff, H. Perm. Select. Comm. on Intelligence, Maxine
Waters, H. Comm. on Fin. Servs., Richard Neal, House Comm. on Ways &
Means, and Eliot Engel, H. Comm. on Foreign Affairs, to Att’y Gen.
William P. Barr, informing him of their expectation that he will make
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report public “without delay and to the
maximum extent permitted by law” (Feb. 22, 2019).
[2] Congress is authorized by law and equipped to receive and examine
the U.S. government’s most sensitive materials and information. The
Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have long
provided to relevant congressional committees sensitive law enforcement
and investigatory information and records in complete and unredacted
form, including those involving classified information, that are not
provided to the general public.
[3] Letter from Att’y Gen. William P. Barr to Chairman Lindsey Graham,
S. Comm. on the Judiciary, and Chairman Jerrold Nadler, H. Comm. on the
Judiciary (Mar. 29, 2019).
[4] At a minimum, the Department should produce a detailed log of each
redaction and the reasons supporting it in order to facilitate the
accommodation process and to provide sufficient clarity for Congress to
evaluate the Department’s claims.
