Breaking: House Panel Votes To Hold Barr In Contempt

Moments ago the House Judiciary Committee voted 24-16 along party lines to hold AG Bill Barr in contempt for refusing to provide an unredacted version of the Mueller report. The issue now proceeds to the full House.

Vox reports:

As serious as contempt sounds, it realistically won’t amount to more than Congress sending a powerful message — unless Democrats pass a different resolution to authorize suing Barr and the Trump administration to try to get the Mueller report.

Passing a contempt resolution is essentially the first step in this process, and one Democrat on House Judiciary told Vox the House will likely proceed with that court case in the coming weeks.

“This is not a step we take lightly,” said Nadler. “It is the culmination of nearly three months of requests, discussion and negotiations with the Department of Justice.” Democrats will now try to start the process of charging Barr with a crime. They may not be successful.

JUST IN: House Judiciary Committee votes 24-16 to approve a contempt citation against Attorney General William Barr, sending the charge to the full House.

— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) May 8, 2019