Posted on 04/19/2019 1:32:02 PM PDT by jazusamo
Top congressional Democrats on Friday rejected Attorney General William Barr's offer to let a select group of lawmakers review redacted sections of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigative report.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the top Democrats on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in both chambers argued in a letter on Friday that Barr's offer is too rigid. They said the number of lawmakers who can review the redacted text is too small, and they took issue with not being able to see all the information, including grand jury material.
"Unfortunately, your proposed accommodation -- which among other things would prohibit discussion of the full report, even with other Committee Members -- is not acceptable," the Democrats wrote in their letter to Barr.
"Given the comprehensive factual findings presented by the Special Counsel's Report, some of which will only be fully understood with access to the redacted material, we cannot agree to the conditions you are placing on our access to the full report. Nor can we agree to an arrangement that does not include a mechanism for ensuring access to grand jury material," they added.
Their letter comes after Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd notified House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday, following the release of a redacted version of the report, that Barr has agreed to provide their committees as well as members of the Gang of Eight access to details in Mueller’s report that were restricted in the public version.
Barr's offer allowed these lawmakers to review a series of sensitive information uncovered throughout the sprawling 22-month long probe, including matters related both to national security and details that relate to ongoing criminal investigations.
The Democrats note that while they won't accept this offer, they are willing to work with Barr to reach an "a reasonable accommodation" so that the DOJ can continue to "protect law enforcement sensitive information, while allowing lawmakers to review information they view as necessary in order to conduct their oversight responsibilities.
While Barr has repeatedly declined to provide Congress with information like grand jury materials, reasoning that he is operating within the guidelines of the special counsel regulations, House Democrats insist they must be able to review the full report.
Nadler, who signed onto the letter, issued a subpoena this morning aiming to compel Barr to provide Congress with the full report and the underlying information, the first motion in what is gearing up to become a protracted court battle.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) all also signed on the letter.
“They don’t want the report. They want the issue.......................”
Exactly. It equates to the Palestinians and peace talks with Israel. Israel offered them all they asked for and Arafat still refused.
I hope Barr realizes early on that he can never make enough concessions to satisfy them.
The Florida senate and gov race were almost lost due to fraud. Should have never been close in either election. Pissed that no one paid the price for fraud either.
“Oversight responsibilities” my a$$!
The demo-craps only want this information in order to continue their unjustified and unwarranted harassment of President Trump.
Who do they think they’re kidding?
As if they would abide by that anyway.
Keep the party small, that way when it leaks to all the alphabet networks your pool of SUSPECTS is small enough to sweat.
And Barr also wants to have a small enough pool to be able to bitch slap the inevitable leakers...they don’t like that.
“Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the top Democrats on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in both chambers argued in a letter on Friday that Barr’s offer is too rigid. They said the number of lawmakers who can review the redacted text is too small, and they took issue with not being able to see all the information, including grand jury material.”
Well, chuck you, Farley. In your nussy, Pancy. Why don’t you make some more obscene noises about the ‘rule of law’ to project your own lawlessness onto Barr.
I hope the redactions are cases against democrats and it get introduced to the public that way.
Yes. Nancy Pelosi especially is too senile to make it from the book to the door with the thoughts intact.
“I for one am flabbergasted why these democrat congress critters think it is not possible to read a 300-page report in a weekend”
We’re talking about Democrats here. Do you really think Maxine Waters could read and comprehend even one paragraph in any report?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.