House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has made one last “counteroffer” to Attorney General William Barr on an agreement for the unredacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller and the underlying evidence, CNN reports.
Barr refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary panel last month for the unredacted report and the documents it cites, and yesterday declined to attend a hearing held by the panel. The Justice Department argued that the subpoena was “not legitimate oversight,” but in a letter to Barr sent Friday, Nadler wrote that whether the subpoena falls under “legitimate” oversight is “not the Department’s judgment to make.”
"The Committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the Department," Nadler added. "But if the Department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena, the Committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse."
He added that “the department has offered no reason whatsoever for failing to produce the evidence underlying the report, except for a complaint that there is too much of it and a vague assertion about the sensitivity of law enforcement files.”
The Department of Justice did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
“As the Mueller report makes clear, this need is amplified where, as here, department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president and instead relies upon Congress to evaluate whether constitutional remedies are appropriate,” Nadler wrote.