Attorney General William Barr will appear before the House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday for the first time since special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his Russia report surrounding the 2016 US election, reports Reuters.
While the session is intended to explore the Trump administration’s $29 billion Justice Department fiscal 2020 budget request, Barr will undoubtedly face questions about the Mueller report and when Congress might expect to see a redacted version.
Barr has been working with Mueller to redact sensitive portions of the report, including grand-jury information following a ruling last week at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. He has indicated that it will be ready by mid-April, in just a few days.
Mueller turned his confidential report over to Barr on March 22 following a 22-month-long probe into whether Donald Trump may have colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign and whether Trump later obstructed inquiries into the matter.
On March 24, Barr released a four-page letter to Congress laying out what he said were Mueller’s main findings. Barr is expected to submit a redacted copy of the full report to the public and Congress by mid-April, or even sooner. –Reuters
Democrats are using the redactions to suggest that Barr and the Trump administration are holding back vital information which they hope might deliver the impeachment they’ve sought for more than two years, despite Mueller’s findings of no collusion – and AG Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein determining that Trump did not obstruct the probe.
On Monday, Rep. Doug Collins – the top Republican on the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee, wrote a scathing letter to the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) accusing him of putting Attorney General William Barr in an “untenable but politically convenient situation.” Barr would be forced to “break the law” if he provides an unredacted report – and he doesn’t, Nadler will “label him as part of a cover-up.”
According to Barr’s written testimony, the Attorney General will focus Tuesday’s discussion on issues including immigration enforcement, the opioid epidemic and combating violent crime.
He is scheduled for a Wednesday appearance in front of a Senate appropriations panel.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2UpLw1j Tyler Durden