Justice Department caves and finally agrees to give evidence of Trump's crimes to Congress

After weeks of stonewalling, the Justice Department agreed on Monday to give Congress “key evidence” from special counsel Robert Mueller related to Trump’s criminal attempts to obstruct justice.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced the capitulation by the Justice Department in a statement, saying Congress will soon receive “key evidence that the Special Counsel used to assess whether the President and others obstructed justice or were engaged in other misconduct.” According to Nadler, Congress will begin receiving the documents later on Monday.

Because the Justice Department finally agreed to cooperate with Congress, Nadler said he will no longer move forward with a criminal contempt vote on Attorney General William Barr’s conduct. “We have agreed to allow the Department time to demonstrate compliance with this agreement,” Nadler said. “If the Department proceeds in good faith and we are able to obtain everything that we need, then there will be no need to take further steps.”

However, Nadler is aware that Trump and the Justice Department may not act in good faith. He says that if important information is withheld, “we will have no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies.”

Nadler issued a subpoena for the full, unredacted Mueller report and all underlying evidence on April 19. Since that time, the Barr-led department has steadfastly refused to adhere to congressional demands, shielding potentially incriminating evidence against Trump from Congress.

After he stonewalled Congress for weeks, the Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. A criminal contempt vote by the full House of Representatives was scheduled for Tuesday, but that vote has been postponed in light of the Justice Department’s agreement to hand over evidence. However, the House will still move forward that day with a vote to give the Judiciary Committee the power to take Barr to court to fully enforce the subpoena.

Based on the evidence available in the redacted Mueller report, hundreds of former federal prosecutors say there is plenty of evidence that Trump committed criminal acts obstructing justice. Since Mueller finished his report, most of the evidence he relied upon was kept hidden by Trump’s Justice Department.

That ends today.

“It is critical that Congress is able to obtain the information we need to do our jobs, ensuring no one is above the law and bringing the American public the transparency they deserve,” Nadler said in his statement.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.