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Chairman Nadler subpoenas fully unredacted Mueller report

DOJ calls New York Democrat’s request ‘premature and unnecessary’

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is seeking to obtain the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is seeking to obtain the full, unredacted report by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Updated 5:26 p.m. | House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler issued a subpoena Friday demanding Attorney General William Barr release a full, unredacted version of the report authored by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

“My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence with past practice. The redactions appear to be significant,” Nadler wrote in a statement released Friday.

The New York Democrat said he is concerned that his committee hasn’t seen evidence the special counsel collected to make the case outlined in a redacted version of Mueller’s 448-page report that was made public Thursday.

Nadler’s subpoena orders the Department of Justice to provide all requested materials to his committee by 10 a.m. on May 1.

A DOJ spokeswoman called the subpoena “premature and unnecessary,” saying that the report contained only “minimal redactions.” 

“The Department will continue to work with Congress to accommodate its legitimate requests consistent with the law and long-recognized executive branch interests,” spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement. 

Later Friday, Nadler and other top Democrats in the House and Senate also sent Barr a separate letter, rejecting his request to let congressional leaders view a less redacted version of the Mueller report. 

In a press conference Thursday ahead of the report’s release, Barr said the DOJ would “make available to a bipartisan group of leaders from several congressional committees a version of the report with all redactions removed except those relating to grand jury information.”

The Democratic leaders on Friday called his proposal “not workable.”

“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,” the Democrats’ letter states. 

Joining Nadler in signing off on the letter were Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, House Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff, Senate Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein and Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner. The Democrats did add that they were willing to discuss a “reasonable accommodation” with the DOJ. 

Besides the “complete and unredacted” report, Nadler’s subpoena also demands that DOJ provide House Judiciary with all documents included or referenced within the report, and all “investigative materials created by the Special Counsel’s Office.”

“Even the redacted version of the report outlines serious instances of wrongdoing by President Trump and some of his closest associates. It now falls on Congress to determine the full scope of that alleged misconduct and to decide what steps we must take moving forward,” Nadler wrote.

House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins accused Nadler of rushing to issue a subpoena that is “wildly overbroad.”

“[The subpoena] commands the department to provide Congress with millions of records that would be plainly against the law to share because the vast majority of these document came as a result of nearly 2,800 subpoenas from a grand jury that is still ongoing,” the Georgia Republican said in a statement. 

Todd Ruger contributed to this report. Also watch: Barr on Mueller report ahead of release — ‘No collusion’

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