AG Barr may face subpoena from House judiciary panel over Flynn case, Nadler says
Critics accuse Barr of politicizing DOJ after dropping Flynn case
Reaction and analysis from former National Security Council spokesperson Michael Anton.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr is expected to testify next month before the House Judiciary Committee regarding the Justice Department’s recent decision to drop the Michael Flynn case, the panel’s chairman said Wednesday.
The Democrat-led panel will issue a subpoena, if necessary, if Barr chooses not to cooperate, Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said during a television interview.
“Now that the District of Columbia has extended the stay-at-home order until June 8, we expect to see Barr in front of our committee on June 9, the very next day,” Nadler told MSNBC.
BARR DEFENDS DOJ DECISION TO DROP CASE AGAINST FLYNN: ‘A CRIME CANNOT BE ESTABLISHED HERE’
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is seen on Capitol Hill, May 8, 2019. (Associated Press)
He said the panel was in communication with the Justice Department regarding the scheduling of a Barr appearance. Barr had been set to testify in late March, but the session was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Hill reported.
Justice ended its case against Flynn last Thursday as the former White House national security adviser was awaiting sentencing following his late 2017 guilty plea on charges of lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia.
In scrapping the case, Justice officials cited problems with the FBI’s handling of its Flynn investigation that called into question whether the probe was justified.
“I want to make sure that we restore confidence in the system,” Barr told CBS News in an interview last week. “There’s only one standard of justice and I believe that … justice, in this case, requires dismissing the charges against General Flynn.”
But Democrats have accused Barr of dropping the case for political reasons, claiming the attorney general’s motivation was to shield President Trump rather than enforce the law.
Barr denied those accusations in the CBS interview.
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“I’m doing the law’s bidding,” Barr said. “A crime cannot be established here.”
Having Barr testify would be the House panel’s attempt to clarify the reasons why the Justice Department dropped the case.
“We cannot have a situation where the attorney general just thumbs his nose and the administration holds Congress in contempt,” Nadler told MSNBC.
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Morgan Phillips contributed to this story.
