Jerry Nadler schedules vote to allow staff to question William Barr
The House Judiciary Committee is moving forward with its plan for staff attorneys to question Attorney General William Barr at a Thursday hearing on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, even as the attorney general is threatening not to attend the hearing over the proposed format.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, scheduled a Wednesday committee vote to allow an additional hour of questioning at Thursday's hearing. The vote would allow members or staff to question Barr during the extra hour, which would be divided between Democrats and Republicans.
But Barr has objected to a format that allows staff to ask questions. Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said Sunday, "The attorney general agreed to appear before Congress. Therefore, Members of Congress should be the ones doing the questioning. He remains happy to engage with Members on their questions regarding the Mueller report."
Democrats are still planning to hold their hearing Thursday even if Barr doesn't show, a committee source told CNN, meaning there could be visuals of a literal empty chair.
If Barr were to skip the hearing, it would mark a major escalation in the dispute between the committee and the Trump administration. Nadler and other House Democrats have criticized Barr's handling of the end of the Mueller investigation, and Nadler has issued a subpoena to obtain the unredacted report and Mueller's underlying evidence. Nadler's staff met Monday with Justice Department staff about the committee's demand to get the full Mueller report, but a different committee source told CNN there was no significant progress about effort to get report from the meeting.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/jerry-nadler-schedules-vote-to-allow-staff-to-question-william-barr/ar-AAAI4Yd?li=BBnbcA1
If Barr skips the hearing he's going to look like a major wimp.
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