Trump invokes presidential privilege to block release of unredacted Mueller report
The administration's decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was gaveling in to consider holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over failure to release the report.
“Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler's unlawful and reckless demands,” she said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Democrats were surprised by the department's decision as last-minute talks failed late Tuesday. It was not immediately clear how the claim of privilege would work with respect to Mueller's report, since it has already been released to the public in redacted form. Executive privilege is the president's power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process.
In a related move, Nadler also threatened to hold former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress if he doesn't testify before the committee later this month. Nadler rejected a White House claim that documents McGahn refused to provide despite a subpoena are controlled by the White House and thus McGahn has no legal right to them.
Democratic House leaders could also file a lawsuit against the Justice Department to obtain the Mueller report, though the case could take months or even years to resolve. Some committee members have suggested they also could fine Barr as he withholds the information.
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