House votes to enforce subpoenas for Trump administration officials
The full House of Representatives voted Tuesday on a civil contempt resolution to enforce the congressional subpoenas of the Trump administration. The resolution passed by a vote of 229-191, with 13 people not recording a vote.
The House Judiciary Committee voted in May to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for refusing to comply with a subpoena to provide the full unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller. President Trump has exerted executive privilege over the entire report. Former White House counsel Don McGahn defied a subpoena to testify before the committee in May at Mr. Trump's direction.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler made a surprise announcement earlier this week that the Justice Department had agreed to begin allowing the committee to access some of Mueller's underlying documents in response to the committee's subpoena.
Nadler said he would hold off on pursuing criminal contempt vote in order to allow the Justice Department time to comply. However, he has indicated that pursuing court enforcement or other steps may still be necessary.
The vote came the day after the Judiciary Committee held a hearing with testimony from former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean. Although the House has not yet opened an impeachment inquiry into the president, these votes and hearings are part of a continued investigation into Mr. Trump.
Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report.
