Rep. Jerrold Nadler blasted Attorney General William Barr for not showing up at his panel’s hearing on Thursday, threatened to cite him for contempt and mocked his absence by leaving a solitary empty chair at the witness table.
“The attorney general of the United States is sworn to uphold the Constitution as our nation’s chief law enforcement officer,” Nadler said at the beginning of the House Judiciary Committee.
“Sadly the attorney general has failed in that responsibility. He has failed to check the president’s worst instincts.”
“He has failed the men and women of the Department of Justice by placing the needs of the president over the fair administration of justice,” Nadler told the panel’s members who sat across from the witness chair with a name card reading “The Honorable William P. Barr.” “He has even failed to show up today.”
The New York Democrat slammed the attorney general for being a no-show and for his Justice Department’s refusal to release a full, unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation.
“We will continue to negotiate for access to the full report for another couple of days, and yes, we will have no choice but to move quickly to hold the attorney in contempt if he stalls or fails to negotiate in good faith. But the attorney general must make a choice,” Nadler said.
In a heated response, Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking Republican on the committee, called Nadler’s handling of the committee a “stunt” and a “circus.”
“They want it to look like an impeachment hearing. The reason Bill Barr is not here today is because the Democrats decided they didn’t want him here today. That’s the reason he is not here,” Collins of Georgia said.
Following Collins, Nadler said, “Ordinarily at this point, I would introduce the witness” and gaveled the hearing to a close despite Republican protests and objections from GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz whose mic suddenly shut off.
Adding to the bizarre nature of the hearing, Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen noshed on a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, using it as a prop to take a shot at Barr’s absence.
Speaking after the hearing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Nadler isn’t capable of “holding power.”
“If he can’t and he’s not capable of asking the attorney general questions maybe he should step down and resign and allow somebody else that can,” she added.
Barr told members of the committee on Wednesday that he wouldn’t attend the hearing to testify about Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation.
The attorney general had spent the day defending his assessment of the report under pointed questioning from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Nadler, of New York, and Barr are at odds over the format of the questioning.
Barr wants to be grilled only by members of the panel, but Nadler wanted to add another round of questioning in which lawyers from both sides on the committee could quiz the attorney general.
A Justice Department statement said the conditions are “unprecedented and unnecessary.”
Barr’s decision not to attend raises the stakes in the already tense standoff between House Democrats and the Justice Department.
Nadler said the department is refusing to comply with a subpoena to release a complete, unredacted version of Mueller’s 448-page report.
Nadler said he would continue to work with Barr on getting the report but compliance with a subpoena is “not optional,” setting the scene for a possible committee vote on contempt.
The committee is also trying to confirm a time when Mueller could testify before May 15.
Barr defended his handling of the Mueller report and his conclusions that Trump did not collude with the Russians during the 2016 election and did not obstruct justice at Wednesday’s hearing.
But Mueller in his report said there wasn’t evidence of a criminal conspiracy and did not exonerate the president on obstruction, leaving it up to Congress to decide.
After Barr released his initial four-page summary of the report, Mueller sent the Justice Department a letter saying Barr “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of his findings.
With Post wires