Latest in Congress
Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled against President Trump's effort to block the subpoena of Trump's accountant, Mazars USA, by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The opinion is available here and below.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone has sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler questioning the validity of the committee's investigation into, as the committee stated, "alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration." Cipollone stated that the White House "[does] not believe the investigation ...
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifed on Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee about the Bureau's Fiscal 2020 budget. The questions covered a wide range of topics, including law enforcement and intelligence challenges, Russian interference in the 2020 election, the Mueller report and Attorney General Bill Barr's characterization of lawful surveillance during the 2016 campaign as "spying." The full video is available below.
The House Judiciary Committee will consider a contempt citation against Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday, May 8. The citation involves Barr's failure to comply with the committee's subpoena for an unredacted version of the Mueller report and underlying evidence. The full draft citation resolution is available here and below.
Attorney General William Barr will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. at a hearing regarding the Justice Department's investigation into election interference in the 2016 election.
His prepared testimony is available here.
Watch the testimony below (via the Washington Post).
The relationship—which includes arms sales, military assistance and training, intelligence sharing, and direct operational support—has been a long-standing source of disagreement between Congress and the White House.
The White House sent a letter on Monday to counsel for Carl Kline, former White House personnel security director, directing him to not comply with a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
If the president’s lawyers release their prewritten rebuttal in response to the Mueller report, attorney-client privilege will not shield them from having to testify before Congress.
Congress has managed twice to obtain federal grand jury information in prior special counsel investigations, but the legal and factual landscape surrounding those situations is distinct from the landscape surrounding the Mueller report.
Rep. Elijah Cummings served the first subpoenas issued to executive branch officials in the 116th Congress, and Rep. Jerry Nadler now has the option of following suit.