House Judiciary Votes To Allow Extra Time For Staff Lawyers To Question Barr Thursday

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (L) looks at his watch prior to a news conference on women’s rights April 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. ... WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (L) looks at his watch prior to a news conference on women’s rights April 30, 2019 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Activists and Congressional Democrats joined Rep. Maloney in the news conference to call for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to allow for an hour of extra questioning of Attorney General Bill Barr split between staff lawyers from either side of the aisle — a format the Justice Department has protested.

Axios first reported on Wednesday’s committee vote on Thursday’s hearing format.

The inclusion of staff lawyers to question Barr has rankled the Justice Department.

“Our position is the attorney general agreed to appear before Congress,” a Justice Department official told The Washington Post and CNN on Sunday. “Therefore, members are the ones who do the questioning.”

Nadler wasn’t having it. He threatened to subpoena the attorney general to appear if Barr doesn’t show up and cooperate with the hearing format.

A notice for Wednesday’s format vote said the additional time could be used by “either Members or Committee staff.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. But will Toadglans’ personal lawyer and titular head of the DOJ even show up?

  2. “Our position is the attorney general agreed to appear before Congress,” a Justice Department official told The Washington Post and CNN on Sunday. “Therefore, members are the ones who do the questioning.”

    Since when do DOJ officials get to dictate the processes to be employed by Congressional oversight committees?

  3. Didn’t Senate GOPers use someone outside the committee in Kavanaugh hearings?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

18 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for cervantes Avatar for trnc Avatar for dark_hawk_98 Avatar for dont Avatar for drriddle Avatar for alansnipes734 Avatar for cd Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for tiowally Avatar for pike_bishop Avatar for demosthenes59 Avatar for katex Avatar for lal2911 Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for ANNFFL

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: