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House Democrats are “heading into a world of hurt” if they escalate their fight with Attorney General Bill Barr over access to the full Robert Mueller report, according to constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley.
Turley, George Washington University Law Professor, issued the warning during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. As lawmakers grilled him and other legal scholars on issues having to do with executive privilege and congressional oversight, Turley stated that while he generally tends to give weight to congressional power, they are sure to lose if they go to court for the purpose of holding Barr in contempt for not releasing the full Mueller report.
“You are heading into a world of hurt if you go to the D.C. Circuit,” Turley warned.
House Democrats recently voted at the committee level to hold Barr in contempt for refusing to release a fully unredacted version of the Mueller report and underlying materials. Turley pointed out, as Barr has in the past, that the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not allow Barr to disclose the secret grand jury information that was redacted in the previously released version.
The D.C. Circuit recently ruled on this very issue, stating in the case of McKeever v. Barr that, outside of the specific exceptions outlined in Rule 6(e), courts do not have authority to order the disclosure of grand jury information. Since any legal action taken against Barr for contempt would likely end up before the D.C. Circuit, Turley made it clear that going down that road is a bad idea for Congress.
“There’s no question that he cannot release this Rule 6(e) information,” Turley said, calling Barr’s position “unassailable.”
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