WaEX: The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday exceeded its bounds in issuing a subpoena for the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian skullduggery concerning the 2016 elections.
Attorney General William Barr should release as much of the Mueller report as possible, as soon as possible, because the public has a right to see what all the fuss was about. Yet if he determines that some information within it is either classified or subject to grand jury secrecy rules, he is duty-bound to redact it. Unless Congress passes, and President Trump signs, a new law waiving grand jury secrecy rules, then existing laws protecting that secrecy should take legal precedence over Congress’ subpoena authority.
This is decidedly not a similar situation to the 1998 investigation of, and eventual impeachment of, then-President Bill Clinton. That investigation was led not by a special counsel, which is what Robert Mueller was, but by an independent counsel, Kenneth Starr. The difference is significant.
Under the independent counsel statute, which has since lapsed (and always was of dubious constitutionality anyway), such counsels were creatures of, and reported to, Congress. They existed independent of, and separate from, the ordinary lines of authority within the Justice Department and the executive branch. When House Speaker Newt Gingrich and company made the foolish decision to post the full Starr report immediately on the Internet, they had full power to do so because Starr’s report was specifically theirs to use as they saw fit.
Special counsels are different. Special counsels, while enjoying a modicum of separation from ordinary lines of authority in the Justice Department, are nonetheless still ultimately part of the department and the executive branch as a whole. They report to the attorney general (or his designee), and they must follow all ordinary rules of civil and criminal procedure.
Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e), neither the attorney for the government nor anyone else may “disclose a matter occurring before the grand jury.” The exceptions involve disclosure to another federal grand jury or to an attorney for the government pursuing another criminal matter in certain circumstances, or to certain national security officials if the information involves foreign intelligence, terrorism, or threat of attack. If petitioned by the government or a defendant in another judicial proceeding, the court can also permit release in the other proceeding. Absent such very limited circumstances, Barr would run afoul of this almost blanket prohibition, and could be sanctioned by contempt of court if he disclosed to Congress any grand jury information in the Mueller report under Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e)(7).
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and the Democrats surely know this, but seem not to care about the rule of law, the sanctity of the grand jury process, or the lack of any impeachment authorization in the House that could be considered a “judicial proceeding” to support their subpoena. more here
The democrats rarely follow laws that apply to them, that’s what helped Hillary get defeated.
Hey Nadler!! You fat worthless, shitheaded, traitor, explain this.
Remember when…
Remember when Donald Trump was a business partner with the Russian government and his company got $53 million from the Russian government investment fund called Rusnano that was started by Vladimir Putin and is referred to as “Putin’s Child?”
Oh wait, that wasn’t Trump; it was John Podesta.
Remember when Donald Trump received $500,000 for a speech in Moscow and paid for by Renaissance Capital, a company tied to Russian Intelligence Agencies?
Oh wait, that was Bill Clinton.
Remember when Donald Trump approved the sale of 20% of U.S. uranium to the Russians while he was Secretary of State that gave control of it to Rosatom the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation?
Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton.
Remember when Donald Trump lied about that and said he wasn’t a part of approving the deal that gave the Russians 1/5 of our uranium, but then his e-mails were leaked showing he did lie about it?
Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton and John Podesta.
Remember when Donald Trump got $145 million from shareholders of the uranium company sold to the Russians?
Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation.
Remember when Donald Trump accepted millions in donations from Russian oligarchs like the chairman of a company that’s part of the Russian Nuclear Research Cluster, the wife of the mayor of Moscow and a close pal of Putin’s?
Oh wait, that was the Clinton Foundation.
Remember when Donald Trump failed to disclose all those donations before becoming the Secretary of State, and it was only found out when a journalist went through Canadian tax records?
Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton
Remember when Donald Trump told Mitt Romney that the ’80s called and it wanted its Russian policy back. The Cold War is over?
Oh wait, that was President Obama.
Man, Trump’s ties to Russia are really “disgusting!”
Hey Nutler, you have j?oined the full of Shif [chairman] of the incorrectly named “intelligence”
pile.
Nadler is just playing for the press. If the AG does redact anything Nadler uses it to prove that Trump is guilty of something and the AG is in the tank for Trump. If there is redaction then the AG should explain why a particular piece has been redacted.
What’s funny is that Nadler is falling right into his own trap.
Trump WANTS the report given in complete form and unredacted because it’ll be the beginning of the end or the democrat political cult.
…and Trump has Nadler and Co. begging for it.
Oh, what surprises are coming to them!
THEN comes the FISA DECLASS.
“but we _have_ to burn the house down- there might be a witch in there”
I think it’s a huge mistake to keep seeding the narrative to the liberals and they trying to deny what they accuse us of. We can’t win if they always control the narrative which is what they’re trying to do with this latest cover up crap.
It’s time where our side spends nearly 100% of our time accusing them of their actual crimes. No letup. Get on the attack.
Yeah, “full” disclosure.
Fat chance.
As joe6pak writes: let’s have full disclosure, not “full” disclosure.
Why aren’t the Americans demanding it?
Why are the RINOs stampeding in fear?
Let’s get the whole story – the corruption and subornation of the FBI – CIA – NSA – DIA – IRS – the various collusions and conspiracies surrounding the Clintons, the Obolas, Abedin, Lynch, Holder, Mills, Biden, Pelosi, Waters, Feinstein, Boxer, Wilson, Cummings, Lewis – yeah – FULL disclosure!
I’m all for it!
The Senate needs to pull their thumbs out of their asses and start their own subpoena process. Oh, wait … those aren’t their thumbs, are they?
izlamo delenda est …