U.S. Attorney General William Barr leaves his house after cancelling plans to testify before the House of Representatives about his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation in McLean, Virginia, U.S., May 2, 2019. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler on Thursday urged Attorney General William Barr to comply with the panel’s demands to testify before it and to release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report on the Russia inquiry.

Nadler, speaking at a panel hearing after Barr refused to appear for a hearing to testify on Mueller’s investigation, said he would have no choice but to hold Barr in contempt if the unredacted version of the report was not made available.

“Ladies and gentleman, the challenge we face is that the president of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, the co-equal branch of the government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions,” Nadler said. “He is trying to render Congress inert as a separate and co-equal branch of government. The challenge we face is that if we don’t stand up to him together today we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future.”