Wednesday President Donald Trump stepped in to shut down the deranged Democrats from attacking Attorney General William Barr, who is being threatened with being held in contempt of Congress by Rep. Jerry Nadler
Nadler required Barr to break the law, and hand over the full special counsel report, without redactions, CNBC reported.
Nadler announced last week that he would hold Barr in contempt of court if the report wasn’t turned over by Monday, which it was not.
Nadler, in opening the committee hearing, on whether or not to hold Barr in contempt said, “The administration has announced loud and clear that it does not recognize Congress as a coequal branch of government.”
“No person … can be permitted to flout the will of Congress and defy a valid subpoena” Nadler said.
The new attorney general wrote to Trump on Wednesday and asked him to “make a protective assertion of executive privilege” for the subpoenaed documents and that the protected materials include “law enforcement information, information about sensitive intelligence sources and information, and grand-jury information that the Department is prohibited from disclosing by law,” Barr requested, according to CNBC.
Barr wrote that “you would be making only a protective assertion of executive privilege,” which would “ensure your ability to make a final assertion, if necessary, over some or all of the subpoenaed materials.”
The White House, who has made no secret of their disdain for the ongoing investigation from Congress, commented on the issue. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “The American people see through Chairman Nadler’s desperate ploy to distract from the President’s historically successful agenda and our booming economy.”
“Neither the White House nor Attorney General Barr will comply with Chairman Nadler’s unlawful and reckless demands,” Sanders said. “Faced with Chairman Nadler’s blatant abuse of power, and at the Attorney General’s request, the President has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege.”
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd wrote in a letter to Nadler, “This is to advise you that the President has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of subpoenaed materials.”
“This protective assertion of executive privilege ensures the President’s ability to make a final decision whether to assert privilege following a full review of these materials,” Boyd wrote.
The letter also said, “We are disappointed that you have rejected the Department of Justice’s request to delay the vote of” the Judiciary Committee.
Nadler told his committee that he did not consider the reasons for the Trump administration’s actions to be legitimate:
“The Trump administration, and its enablers, may brazenly try to cover up the misdeeds uncovered by the special counsel, but on this committee we will represent the American people and ensure the truth is known,” Nadler said.
