Chairman of the House judiciary committee, Jerry Nadler led a Democratic push to subpoena the Mueller report. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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April 3 (UPI) -- The House judiciary committee voted Wednesday to approve a subpoena for special counsel Robert Mueller's full report despite objections from Republicans that doing so could compromise national security.
The committee voted 24-17 to authorize the subpoena for the report from the Justice Department. Now, it's up to Attorney General William Barr to comply. Barr summarized the report last week by saying Mueller found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians working to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said he doesn't want to take Barr's word for it.
"We don't know that. That's why we want to see it," Cohen said. "I want to find out if I was wrong and I want the public to see it, too."
House judiciary committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat, said he would give Barr time to voluntarily turn over the 300-plus-page report before issuing the subpoena.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said the subpoena asks Barr to violate the law by disclosing grand jury material without a court order.
"This is just a continuation of an attempt to undermine the president of the United States.
This is absolutely not true," Lesko said. "I really wish that we could work on big issues instead of continuing this circus. This is all about the 2020 election."
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., said no one should be above the law.
"Our democracy was attacked by a foreign adversary," Cicilline said. "This committee has the right to see the full context of the report."
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said the House of Representatives has a history of issuing subpoenas, including during the Clinton administration.
She said, Barr "attempted to swat away the idea of any Russian coordination." She said Congress isn't a grand jury but has to be "fair and balanced."
"We sit here as a body that has to proceed with its constitutional duties to provide oversight and transparency," Jackson Lee said.
Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, blasted Democrats for wanting to disclose classified documents that he said could compromise national security.
"No law says that. The attorney general has promised to provide as much transparency as he can but I'm afraid that's never going to be good enough for some in here," Ratcliffe said. "The Trump-Russia-collusion narrative doesn't exit, is not real. These investigations should end. we should move on. we shouldn't be issuing subpoena today."
