House has just voted for a civil contempt resolution against Barr and McGahn, in a straight party-line vote. Its a bit weaker than a criminal contempt citation (for which he could be fined or imprisoned), but authorizes the House to sue Barr and McGahn in civil court to compel them to comply with subpoenas.
For the time being, no action will be taken against Barr, due to him making a compromise deal with Congress to turn over some documents in exchange for avoiding a criminal contempt citation (you can decide for yourself whether he or Nadler folded more). But Nadler leaves open the door for going to court or pursuing a criminal contempt citation if Barr starts refusing to cooperate again.
https://www.businessinsider.com/house-v ... mpt-2019-5
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to allow a congressional committee to enforce subpoenas by taking uncooperative executive-branch officials to court using a civil contempt resolution.
A civil contempt resolution is different from criminal contempt of Congress, which can result in lofty fines and even jail time.
The move comes after the House Judiciary Committee advanced contempt of Congress resolutions for both Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn, marking the most severe congressional action against President Donald Trump's administration since Democrats reclaimed the chamber's majority.
The 229-191 vote fell straight along party lines. The resolution required only a simple majority and needed to be passed in only one chamber of Congress. It came after the House Judiciary Committee hammered out the details of the contempt resolution in a marathon hearing.
Democrats on the committee had issued a subpoena for Barr to hand over a full, unredacted copy of the special counsel report detailing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as the underlying evidence. But Barr refused to comply with the committee's demands.
In McGahn's case, the White House instructed him to not testify before the committee, angering Democrats clamoring to haul in the central figure in Mueller's obstruction case and the one official named more times than anyone else in Mueller's report.
On Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler struck a deal with the Justice Department to avoid holding Barr in criminal contempt in exchange for certain documents relating to the now wrapped special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Justice Department agreed to turn over key evidence from Mueller's obstruction case to the judiciary committee, which lawmakers believe will significantly aid their investigation into whether Trump sought to illegally thwart Mueller's investigation.
Before the vote, Nadler called the resolution necessary because of what he characterized as "unprecedented stonewalling" from the Trump administration.
"The committees have a constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight, to make recommendations to the House as necessary, and to craft legislation that will curb the waste, fraud, and abuse on full display in the Trump administration," Nadler said during a speech on the House floor. "This is why it is important that the Judiciary Committee be able to act in such matters using all of our Article 1 powers, as contemplated in this Resolution and described in both the Rules Committee Report and the House Judiciary Committee's Contempt Report."
Mueller did not make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" on whether Trump obstructed justice, citing Justice Department guidelines that say a sitting president cannot be indicted. But prosecutors emphasized that their report did not exonerate Trump, and that if they had confidence the president did not commit a crime, they would have said so.
They also said a president is not immune from criminal prosecution once he leaves office and that the constitutional remedy for holding a sitting president accountable for wrongdoing lies with Congress. Mueller cited those two things as reasons why he investigated Trump despite knowing he was prohibited from charging him.
Legal experts say the evidence the Justice Department turns over will likely include FBI notes of interviews with key witnesses in the obstruction case, such as McGahn, former FBI officials, and current and former White House staffers.
"If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps," Nadler said in a statement after striking the deal. "If important information is held back, then we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies."
Republicans vigorously opposed the contempt charges, echoing offers from Barr himself to allow a handful of Democrats to view a less-redacted report from Mueller.
Being held in contempt of Congress is a rare, but severe penalty, which has happened fewer than 30 times throughout United States history. The most recent case of an attorney general being found in contempt was when Republicans went after Eric Holder during the Barack Obama administration in 2012.
Holder had refused to turn over documents relating to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' gun walking scandal known as "Fast and Furious." A federal judge ultimately tossed out the case in 2014.
In Barr's case, he could face a lengthy legal battle as Holder did. Whether or not he will is up to the US attorneys, who could very well not pursue the criminal contempt of Congress.
This also got my eye as I was reading the article:
Read more: Republican Rep. Justin Amash steps down from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus after calling for Trump's impeachment
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.
I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
