The Attorney General has now informed the House Judiciary Committee that he will NOT be in attendance for tomorrow’s scheduled hearing:
A House Judiciary Committee side says the committee has been informed by DOJ that Barr will NOT be coming for his scheduled 9 am appearance before the committee tomorrow. There has been an ongoing dispute about whether staff could question him during the hearing.
— Rebecca Kaplan (@RebeccaRKaplan) May 1, 2019
BREAKING: Per a congressional source, the House Judiciary Committee has been notified by the DOJ that Attorney General Barr is NOT coming to testify tomorrow. DOJ has told the committee to expect a letter officially stating that shortly, according to my source.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 1, 2019
My source has made it clear that the next step is to subpoena AG Barr to make him come testify before the House Judiciary Committee and compel him to answer questions posed by congressional attorneys. A reminder: The hang up is that Barr only wants Qs to come from lawmakers.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 1, 2019
Um, it’s not a hang up. These aren’t the Kavanaugh hearings where an accuser needs to be deposed by counsel.
There’s absolutely no reason for Barr to be questioned by the committee’s legal counsel because he’s not on trial here.
That was just a pathetic move by Nadler and shows crazed Democrats have become over the fact that Mueller’s report vindicated Trump.
I’m glad he’s not showing and a subpoena isn’t going to get him there either.
UPDATE: Nadler confirms:
Jerry Nadler: AG Barr "informed us that he will not attend tomorrow's hearing." Also said Justice Department will not comply with subpoena for full, unredacted report.
"Compliance with congressional subpoenas is not optional," Nadler said.
— Kristine Phillips (@kristinegWP) May 1, 2019
Not optional? Yeah tell that to Eric Holder.
Ranking member Doug Collins has it right:
House Judiciary Ranking Mbr @RepDougCollins on status of tomorrow’s cmte hearing on Mueller report: “It’s a shame Members of the House Judiciary Cmte won’t get the opportunity to hear from Attorney General Barr this Thursday because Chairman Nadler chose to torpedo our hearing.“
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) May 1, 2019