US dispute deepens

Trump blocks Mueller report as contempt vote held on official

THE US House Judiciary Committee has voted to hold Attorney-General William Barr in contempt of Congress.

The vote on Wednesday capped a day of ever-deepening dispute between congressional Democrats and US President Donald Trump, who invoked executive privilege to block politicians from the full report on Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York declared the action by Mr Trump’s Justice Department a clear new sign of the president’s “blanket defiance” of Congress’ constitutional rights to conduct oversight.

“We did not relish doing this, but we have no choice,” Mr Nadler said after the contempt vote.

He called the executive privilege claim an “assertion of tyrannical power by the president” that “cannot stand”.

But Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said it was disappointing that members of Congress had “chosen to engage in such inappropriate political theatrics”.

The Justice Department said the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee had held a “politically motivated and unnecessary contempt vote”.

The House Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed the Justice Department for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report and underlying evidence.

The intelligence committee subpoena requires Attorney-General Barr to produce the documents by May 15.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff and the top Republican on the committee, California Representative Devin Nunes, have asked for the unredacted Mueller report for several weeks.

Mr Schiff said in a statement that the Justice Department had “repeatedly failed to respond, refused to schedule any testimony, and provided no documents responsive to our legitimate and duly authorised oversight activities”.

The committee voted 24-16 to hold Mr Barr in contempt.