Jerry Nadler on Holding AG Barr in Contempt: We Can’t Permit Trump Making Himself a ‘King’
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told CNN that President Donald Trump “wants to make himself a king” while discussing why his committee is planning to vote on holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.
“Barr has gone from being a personal attorney to the president instead of the attorney general of the United States,” Nadler said during an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota. “He has now gone a step further and made the entire justice department an agency for enabling the president to defy the law, to defy any kind of accountability, and to act as a monarch.”
“To say that Congress can have no role in accountability, this is just another instance of lawlessness by this administration,” he added — referencing the Justice Department’s refusal to allow Congress to view the unredacted report and underlying evidence that Nadler submitted a subpoena for.
When asked about his committee moving forward with a contempt vote against Barr, Nadler said, “Absolutely. We have no choice.”
“They made it twice as necessary to proceed with this contempt because you cannot have a government in which the president can conceal all information about his own wrongdoing and about anything else,” he said while attacking Justice Department officials for not working with Congress to provide the unredacted Mueller report. “He wants to make himself a king and Congress cannot permit that.”
After Camerota noted that taking this process to the courts could slow things down, Nadler acknowledged that “it could take a while,” but he’s not worried about who the law will side with.
“The fact is I have no doubt as to the outcome,” he added. “This is not new law — this is well established, old law.”
While House Democrats have routinely clashed with members of the Trump administration over testimony and information requests, Barr would be the first such official to be held in contempt of Congress following the vote.
If Barr’s contempt vote passes the Judiciary Committee vote, it will move a vote before the full House where they will decide on approving legal proceedings.
Watch above, via CNN.
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