A copy of the redacted Mueller report, visible at a Senate Judiciary hearing. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM

After U.S. Attorney General William Barr missed a Monday morning deadline to turn over an unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller III's report, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee moved ahead with their threat to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, said Monday that the committee will meet on Wednesday to vote on holding Barr in contempt. Nadler said Barr's “failure to comply” left the panel “no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings.”

“Even in redacted form, the Special Counsel's report offers disturbing evidence and analysis that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice at the highest levels. Congress must see the full report and underlying evidence to determine how to best move forward with oversight, legislation, and other constitutional responsibilities,” Nadler said in a statement. “The Attorney General's failure to comply with our subpoena, after extensive accommodation efforts, leaves us no choice but to initiate contempt proceedings in order to enforce the subpoena and access the full, unredacted report. If the Department presents us with a good faith offer for access to the full report and the underlying evidence, I reserve the right to postpone these proceedings.”

If the committee votes to hold Barr in contempt, the resolution and a supporting report will move to the floor for a full House vote to authorize legal proceedings against the attorney general.

The Justice Department responded in a letter Monday, inviting House Judiciary staff members to negotiate an accommodation with the department on Wednesday afternoon.

A department spokesperson also said in a statement that Barr had so far taken “extraordinary steps” to accommodate the committee's requests regarding the Mueller investigation, but that Nadler had not reciprocated the effort to come to an accommodation. “The Department remains willing to accommodate Congress's legitimate needs, but must do so consistent with the law.”

Nadler previously sent Barr a letter on May 3 to set a final deadline for the report. He called the request “one more good faith attempt to negotiate” with the Justice Department.

The Justice Department previously told House Judiciary it would not comply with Democrats' demands, calling the subpoena “not legitimate oversight.”

“The requests in the subpoenas are overbroad and extraordinarily burdensome,” Justice Department official Stephen Boyd said in a letter last week. “More importantly, these requests would pose a fundamental threat to the confidentiality of law enforcement files and the Department's commitment to keep law enforcement investigations free of political interference.”

The panel's top Republican, Rep. Doug Collins from Georgia, denounced Democrats' move.

“Chairman Nadler knows full subpoena compliance requires Attorney General Barr to break the law,” Collins said in a statement Monday. “Yet, instead of introducing legislation allowing the attorney general to provide Congress grand jury material, Democrats move to hold him in contempt,” he said. “They know the Justice Department is working to negotiate even as they pursue contempt charges, making their move today illogical and disingenuous. Democrats have launched a proxy war smearing the attorney general when their anger actually lies with the president and the special counsel, who found neither conspiracy nor obstruction.”

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