The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee was expected to vote on Wednesday to subpoena Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report and underlying evidence from his investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
If the motion passes, it would be a marked escalation of congressional pressure on the Trump administration to hand over all that Mueller documented during his 22-month probe, including grand jury evidence.
Lawmakers were expected to vote along party lines to authorize the panel’s Democratic chairman, Jerrold Nadler, to subpoena Mueller’s material, as well as documents and testimony from five former Trump aides, including one-time political advisor Steve Bannon and former White House Counsel Donald McGahn.
The committee’s focus shifted to subpoenas when it became clear that Attorney General William Barr would ignore a Democratic demand for him to turn over the full report by April 2. Barr has pledged to share a redacted copy of the nearly 400-page report with Congress and the public by mid-April, if not sooner.
Democrats, who hold a seven-seat majority on the 41-member Judiciary Committee, fear that Barr could use redactions to suppress evidence of potential misconduct by Trump and his campaign that could be vital to their congressional oversight agenda.
Barr’s March 24 summary of the Mueller report said the special counsel did not establish that Trump campaign officials conspired with Russia during the presidential election but also did not exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice. Barr also said Mueller’s team had not found enough proof to warrant bringing obstruction charges against the president.
Trump has long denied any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. Moscow says it did not try to interfere in the election, even though U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that it secretly trying to sway U.S. voters in Trump’s favor.