Fight over Mueller report escalates

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday recommended holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt for failing to provide an unredacted version of the special counsel’s report and its underlying evidence to Congress.

The 24-to-16 vote, along party lines, came hours after President Trump asserted executive privilege to shield the report. The Justice Department, which asked the president to step in, called the vote “politically motivated and unnecessary.”

It seems inevitable that the competing claims will have to be settled in the courts. “We are now in a constitutional crisis,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the Judiciary Committee chairman.