William Barr: Democrats to launch contempt proceedings against attorney general

The House Judiciary Committee has announced plans to vote Wednesday on whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt.

Donald Trump’s appointee to lead the Department of Justice has stirred controversy in recent weeks over his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Democrats accused him of lying before Congress about whether he knew members of the special counsel’s team were “frustrated” by his public statements after the completion of the report, which sought to clear the president of wrongdoing despite numerous examples of possible obstruction of justice throughout the probe.

Mr Barr failed to appear for a second day of testimony on Capitol Hill last week after he was grilled Wednesday, and reportedly failed to meet a Monday deadline to provide the House Judiciary Committee a full, unredacted copy of the report and underlying evidence — the second such deadline he did not meet.

"The Attorney General's failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report," House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement.

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