Special Robert Mueller has completed his report, and he turned it over to the new Attorney General (AG) William Bass. The country is on pins and needles. Then, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Bass came up with a summary of the report’s major findings to be released over the weekend. Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Nation exactly what he think comes next.
Nadler said Congress would “absolutely” go to the Supreme Court, if necessary:
‘House Judiciary Chairman
@RepJerryNadler says that Congress “absolutely” will take the demands to get the full Mueller report to the Supreme Court if necessary, adding he would issue a subpoena and would not wait months to begin the fight.’
House Judiciary Chairman @JerryNadler: “The special prosecutor is limited in scope, his job was limited in scope and limited to crimes. What Congress has to do is look at a broader picture. We have the responsibility of protecting the rule of law” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/nXNJoUoEox pic.twitter.com/7OyJ0idX6l
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) March 24, 2019
Mueller’s report has been long anticipated, so Nadler’s interview with Bash opened the door a bit into what will happen with the investigation into Russia’s attack on U.S. presidential elections and the Trump campaign’s conspiracy with Moscow. The representative will stop at nothing to get at the whole report, he told Bash:
‘t’s so crucial that the entire report and the evidence underlying it be released to the public. (His committee would) try to negotiate and try everything else first but if we have to, yes, we will certainly issue subpoenas to get that information.’
If Bass refuses to release all of the report and underlying support documents, the Judiciary chair said he would “absolutely” take the issue to the Supreme Court. Nadler noted that Donald Trump Jr., the chairman of the Trump campaign Paul Manafort, and son-in-law Justin Kushner met with Russians at the Trump Tower. The committee chair said:
‘We know there was collusion. Why there’s been no indictments we don’t know,’
The Justice Department confirmed that there are no additional indictments recommended in Mueller’s report. However, Nadler said there have “clearly” been obstructions of justice to Mueller’s investigation by the president.
AG Bass, who runs the Justice Department, confirmed that Mueller’s report did not have any additional indictments. That came as a surprise to the public, the media, and Congress. Nadler the CNN host that obstructions of Justice existed, and Trump “concocted the lie” about why the Russians met with Manafort, Kushner, and Trump Jr.:
‘We know that the president pressured the FBI to go easy, to stop investigating Flynn and various other people, we know he fired the FBI director to, as he put it to NBC, to take care of the Russian thing in order to stop the investigation of various people associated with him, we know he concocted the lie about the purpose of that Russian meeting.’
Nadler also relayed to Bash that Mueller’s scope was “limited:”
‘The special prosecutor is limited in scope, his job was limited in scope and limited to crimes. What Congress has to do is look at a broader picture. We have the responsibility of protecting the rule of law.’
