House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler on Monday said he has struck a deal with the Justice Department to begin providing Congress with some documents from the Mueller Report related to obstruction of justice.
Nadler announced the agreement ahead of a vote scheduled for Tuesday, when the House is expected to approve a resolution to go to court to enforce its subpoenas of Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn.
But a court fight appears to be no longer necessary for the Barr subpoena — at least for the time being — as a result of the agreement the committee struck with the Justice Department. The details of which documents would be provided to the committee were not disclosed, but Nadler said the agreement would allow all Judiciary Committee members to see “Robert Mueller’s most important files … providing us with key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct.”
“These documents will allow us to perform our constitutional duties and decide how to respond to the allegations laid out against the President by the Special Counsel,” Nadler said.
The agreement is the first sign of a thaw between the House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department, which have been battling over the special counsel’s report since Robert Mueller ended his investigation in March.
The House Judiciary Committee had issued a subpoena for Mueller’s unredacted report and all of the special counsel’s evidence, and then voted to hold Barr in contempt last month. The committee also fought with Barr over the format of his hearing, prompting the attorney general to skip his appearance.
I’m not sure what the “deal” is — you get a request from a congressional committee; you respond to it. Maybe they agreed not to hold Barr in contempt.
UPDATE: Yup….
House panel delays legal action after it reaches an agreement with the Justice Department to provide “key evidence” Mueller gathered in investigation https://t.co/tox8IzSjd2
— POLITICO (@politico) June 10, 2019
Meanwhile John Dean is testifying today (see live feed below) and Trump is not happy:
….No Obstruction. The Dems were devastated – after all this time and money spent ($40,000,000), the Mueller Report was a disaster for them. But they want a Redo, or Do Over. They are even bringing in @CNN sleazebag attorney John Dean. Sorry, no Do Overs – Go back to work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2019
Can’t believe they are bringing in John Dean, the disgraced Nixon White House Counsel who is a paid CNN contributor. No Collusion – No Obstruction! Democrats just want a do-over which they’ll never get!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2019
Dean is actually one of four witnesses (including one brought in by Republicans) and the Republicans seem to be focusing on Dean/Watergate.
5/ @HouseJudiciary@JohnWDean humiliates Rep. @mattgaetz (R-FL)
— Bad Fox Graphics (@BadFoxGraphics) June 10, 2019
GAETZ: How do the Democrats plan to pay for Medicare-for-All?
DEAN: Which Democrats?
GAETZ: Well, let's get specific to Nixon since…
DEAN: Well, actually, Nixon DID have a healthcare planhttps://t.co/AnkVv4Li2S