The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to hold Bill Barr and Don McGahn in contempt of Congress.
Both President Donald Trump’s attorney general and former White House counsel defied subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, and congressional Democrats followed through on threats to hold them in contempt. The lower chamber voted in favor of H. Res. 430 by a margin of 229-191 in what was a party line vote. (RELATED: AG Bill Barr Is Not Worried About His Reputation: ‘Everyone Dies’)
Trump administration officials have come under fire for their handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, which concluded that there was no evidence that the president’s campaign colluded with the Russian government. Mueller declined to weigh in on the possibility that Trump obstructed justice over the course of his investigation.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) stands with Attorney General William Barr before the presentation of the Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor in the East Room of the White House May 22, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Perhaps no figure — other than Trump himself — has drawn more ire from Democrats than Barr, who released his own summary of Mueller’s report, weeks before it was released to the public. (RELATED: The Kremlin Breaks Silence On Mueller Report)
Congressional Democrats have accused Barr of misleading the public in his summary, with some Democratic leaders even calling on Barr to resign. Mueller himself said last month that he believes Barr acted in “good faith.”
“The Attorney General preferred to make the entire report public all at once. We appreciate that the Attorney General made the report largely public,” Mueller said at the time. “I do not question the Attorney General’s good faith in that decision.”
Despite Mueller’s report, Democrats are continuing to aggressively investigate the Trump administration ahead of the 2020 presidential election. Earlier this week, Democrats rolled in Watergate figure John Dean to testify in front of the Judiciary Committee, a move widely panned by Republicans and Trump, who called Dean a “loser.”