Congressional Democrats are eager to see more, and they’re prepared to sue to get their way. And that’s where the standoff will begin: If Barr withholds Mueller’s findings, he’ll tee off a dramatic power struggle likely to engulf all three branches of government, locking Congress and the White House in a legal duel that could quickly rise to the Supreme Court.“I think we’re in for an epic showdown between Congress and the executive branch,” said Jens David Ohlin, vice dean of Cornell Law School. “We’re going to have a knock-down-drag-out fight over this.”“I think we’re in for an epic showdown between Congress and the executive branch.”
The report — and the evidence
Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, left, speaks with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., at an event marking 100 days since the death of Jamal Khashoggi on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The regulations
“This question of what Barr is going to disclose hinges on what kind of report Robert Mueller files in the first place.”
If Mueller found evidence that Trump committed a crime, but chose not to prosecute just because Trump is the president, he could ultimately decide to go out of his way to list that evidence in his final report as his only recourse, according to Coan.That would be precisely the kind of info Congress would want to have — with an eye toward possibly launching impeachment proceedings.“Congress would be under a constitutional obligation to investigate the facts for itself,” Katyal wrote in the Times. “Congress cannot be satisfied that impeachable offenses were not committed when Mr. Mueller’s investigative mandate did not cover many impeachable offenses, and when his report does not provide detailed information and answers to the few offenses that are within his mandate.”“The first thing he’s going to do is sit on the Mueller report like a hen on an egg.”
All eyes on Barr
Attorney General nominee William Barr is sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. As he did almost 30 years ago, Barr is appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to make the case he’s qualified to serve as attorney general. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“I have every confidence that the DOJ would prevail,” Rivkin said. “If the Department of Justice decides to withhold portions of the report, either on the basis of national security or executive privilege to protect deliberative materials, I think they’d be on extremely strong grounds.”One way Congress could bolster its argument would be to explicitly state that it wants the report to find out whether Trump has committed any impeachable offenses, according to Kinkopf — although doing so may run the political risk of appearing to jump the gun on impeachment before the facts are known, he said.“You can conjure the spirits, but will they come?”