FILE PHOTO - U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY), incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman, participates in a news conference with fellow Democrats to introduce proposed government reform legislation, which they've titled the For the People Act, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. January 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
House Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler threatened Attorney General William Barr and told him exactly how the hearing will go down.
CNN reported:
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler told CNN on Sunday morning that Barr would not “dictate the format of the Judiciary Committee.”
“The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period,” Nadler, a New York Democrat, said.
Asked what he would do if Barr doesn’t comply, Nadler said: “Then we will have to subpoena him, and we will have to use whatever means we can to enforce the subpoena.”
Nadler wants to allow all members of his panel at Thursday’s hearing to have one round of questioning of five minutes each, according to the source. He also wants to allow for a subsequent round of questioning of 30 minutes for each side, allowing both parties’ committee counsels to also engage in questioning during their respective turns — which has turned into a key sticking point for the Justice Department.
Rep. Nadler is done playing with Barr. If the attorney general doesn’t show up and answer questions on Thursday, he is going to be subpoenaed and Nadler seems willing to do whatever is necessary to enforce that subpoena.
The attorney general should not be afraid to answer questions from the House Judiciary Committee counsel unless he was concerned about criminal and legal liability for his actions.
It is the height of arrogance for William Barr to think that he gets to set the conditions of his testimony. Barr has a constitutional duty to appear before Congress when he is summoned to testify. Democrats are finished with the administration’s nonsense and stall tactics. If Barr wants to fight this in court, Democrats will take him to court, and they will win, but under no circumstances will any member of the Trump administration get to set the terms of how Congress conducts oversight.
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