**Breaking** Justice Department and House intelligence panel strike deal for Mueller materials

[hlthe2b]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-and-house-intelligence-panel-strike-deal-for-mueller-materials/2019/05/22/f8f2380a-7c7e-11e9-8ede-f4abf521ef17_story.html?utm_term=.b5922352fa9c

The House Intelligence Committee will not enforce a subpoena against Attorney General William P. Barr as planned Wednesday, after the Justice Department agreed at the 11th hour to produce the redacted material and underlying information from the special counsel’s report that the panel sought, albeit more slowly than it wanted.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee’s chairman, announced the deal in a statement Wednesday morning. He warned that the subpoena “will remain in effect and will be enforced should the Department fail to comply with the full document request.”

Schiff added that he expects the “initial production” of providing the committee with 12 categories of counterintelligence and foreign intelligence material from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of election interference by Russia would “be completed by the end of next week.”

In a letter Tuesday to Schiff, Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd wrote that “the Department is willing to move forward with efforts to accommodate the Committee’s legitimate interests” to view the items it requested. But he argued that the Justice Department would need more time to produce them. Boyd made the counteroffer contingent on the committee’s promise “that it will not pursue any vote on an ‘enforcement action,’ either on May 22, or while such good-faith accommodation measures continue.”

[shraby]

1. Whatcha want to bet it will be heavily redacted?

[Perseus]

18. When will Democrats learn that repubs do not negotiate in good faith?

First Don Jr decides he will not spend more time than he wants answering questions, he also demands that he will only answer specific questions, I imagine a couple of them being his name and his father's name, that should only take him about 20 minutes to answer.

Now we have the Democrats making more deals with the repubs, knowing very well that repubs do not negotiate in good faith. I am not sure if the news has a typo "Justice Department agreed at the 11th hour to produce the redacted material"...This reads to me like what they are going to produce is the REDACTED material?

They want more time...hmmmm, I wonder what they intend to do with the extra time...

They should just nail Barr's ass to the wall and impeach him, get him out of that sit of power where he can and will do so much damage.

[StarfishSaver]

20. So, you think it's better for Schiff, instead of working out getting the materials

in the next few weeks, should play hardball, dig in his heels, take it to court and hope the courts resolve it sometime between now and the 2020 election?

[hlthe2b]

2. A bit more for those behind the "paywall"...

But holding off on the subpoena puts Schiff somewhat at odds with the rest of the House Democratic conference, whose members have been agitating for impeachment proceedings against the president as other panels’ efforts to secure materials and witnesses are met with recalcitrance from the administration.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has resisted such calls for impeachment, even as pressure builds to take some action. Schiff’s decision to accept the Justice Department’s efforts to accommodate his requests provides her with a potential off-ramp to avoid calls for impeachment, at least in the near future, as the Intelligence Committee determines whether the Justice Department is satisfying its demands.

Both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees have been making the case to Barr that they should be able to view the full contents of Mueller’s report, plus certain underlying materials. Barr has argued that it would be illegal for him to deliver the full redacted materials to the Judiciary Committee as requested, because it would require releasing grand jury information that cannot be disclosed without a court order. He has rejected House Democrats’ entreaties to join them in making an appeal to a judge to release those materials.

But Schiff made his case for seeing the same materials on the grounds that the Mueller report deals with counterintelligence matters — and the Intelligence Committee has a legal right to view materials pertaining to counterintelligence, whether they originated with a grand jury or not. Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), the committee’s top Republican, had joined Schiff in letters to Barr making the case for such access, although he did not sign on to the eventual subpoena that Schiff issued earlier this month. “The Department has repeatedly acknowledged the Committee’s legitimate oversight interest in these materials,” Schiff said in a statement Wednesday. “I look forward to, and expect, continued compliance by the Department so we can do our vital oversight work.”

[superpatriotman]

3. Next week?

It’s 400 pages. I could have that printed in 4-5 minutes.

[watoos]

5. Oops, you beat me to it,

We must think alike, that is scary for you.

[onenote]

12. The underlying information requested is substantially more than 400 pages.

[2naSalit]

15. No shit!

End of next week is being generous.

[watoos]

4. Why does it take until the end of next week

to provide all of the requested material? I bought a printer that I really didn't need to buy, that can help get the material out sooner, I promise I won't read any of it.

[hlthe2b]

7. It shouldn't but this isn't just the 400 pages, but (supposedly) the underlying evidence for part 1

[MineralMan]

6. So Schiff stood them down.

Good. Now, we'll see if they deliver.

[StarfishSaver]

9. This is a good development

[Blues Heron]

8. Taxes yesterday, full report today

Not a bad couple of days work. Plus Amash, the winds seem to blowing in the right direction for a change!

[StarfishSaver]

10. Another example of the Democrats "doing nothing"

[Blues Heron]

11. take your sarcasm elsewhere

this is a positive post

[kysrsoze]

14. I think you read that reply wrong.

It’s reads to me, “doing nothing” is the exact opposite of what Dems are actually doing. This is good sarcasm.

[Iliyah]

13. LOL, did you read the so called leaked memo from the IRS?

Wherein the "president" can by executive privilege stop any of his tax information to be produced. What a load of s***.

Barr, IRS, and t-rump attorneys are breaking laws constantly. Nowhere in the initial law (1920s) regarding IRS does allow the president to do so (well that's my understanding).

These people are liars, plain and simple.

[hlthe2b]

17. Actually the IRS memo goes on to diminish Executive Privilege as applicable, however.

“One potential basis” for refusing the returns, the memo states, would be if the administration invoked the doctrine of executive privilege.

But the IRS memo notes that executive privilege is most often invoked to protect information, such as opinions and recommendations, submitted as part of formulating policies and decisions. It even says the law “might be read to preclude a claim of executive privilege,” meaning the law could be interpreted as saying executive privilege cannot be invoked to deny a subpoena.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/confidential-draft-irs-memo-says-tax-returns-must-be-given-to-congress-unless-president-invokes-executive-privilege/2019/05/21/8ed41834-7b1c-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.0c74765f27b1

[Mike Nelson]

16. If I were the Judge, I would...

… and a rule for Barr and his pals: Have everything ready to deliver, in the event another ruling doesn't go your way. You have the staff and materials - get to work.

[Turbineguy]

19. "... good-faith accommodation measures..."

Kinda worries me. Good faith and Trump. "This town's not big enough for the two of us!"