Beryl Howell Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Justice Department to disclose to House Democrats secret portions of the special counsel's report on the Russia investigation, along with other materials concealed under grand secrecy rules, in a decision that pointed to the ongoing impeachment inquiry.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell's ruling delivered a victory to the House Judiciary Committee in its drawn-out legal battle for the full findings of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller III, who in March concluded his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In his summary of his office's findings, Mueller reported that he uncovered no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with the Kremlin, but he documented several episodes of possible efforts by the president to obstruct the investigation.

In a 75-page opinion, Howell, nominated by President Barack Obama in 2010, pointed to the House Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry as a "judicial process" that falls under an exception to grand jury secrecy rules, allowing Congress to access some of the most sensitive testimony and other information obtained by Mueller's team.

Several weeks ago, the House formally initiated an impeachment inquiry focused on President Donald Trump's alleged use of his office for personal gain. House investigators are looking into, among other things, whether Trump improperly leveraged U.S. military aid to pressure the president of Ukraine to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

"In carrying out the weighty constitutional duty of determining whether impeachment of the president is warranted, Congress need not redo the nearly two years of effort spent on the Special Counsel's investigation, nor risk being misled by witnesses, who may have provided information to the grand jury and the special counsel that varies from what they tell [the House Judiciary Committee]," Howell wrote.

Howell, who as chief judge presides over grand jury matters in Washington federal court, cited the public's substantial interest in the Mueller probe in ruling for the House Judiciary Committee, or HJC.

She dismissed Justice Department claims that redacted portions of the report should remain secret due to ongoing criminal cases stemming from Mueller's probe.

"The need for continued secrecy is minimal and thus easily outweighed by HJC's compelling need for the material," the judge said. "Tipping the scale even further toward disclosure is the public's interest in a diligent and thorough investigation into, and in a final determination about, potentially impeachable conduct by the president described in the Mueller Report."

The House Judiciary Committee, Howell said, "needs the requested material not only to investigate fully but also to reach a final determination about conduct by the President described in the Mueller Report."

The House Judiciary Committee voted in May to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt over his refusal to furnish the panel with a full, unredacted copy of the special counsel's 448 page report. In negotiations with House leaders, the Justice Department's top congressional liaison, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, agreed to make all but the grand jury information—"98.5 percent" of the Mueller report, he wrote in one letter—available to a dozen lawmakers.

Jerry Nadler Congressman Jerrod Nadler (D-NY) chairs a House Judiciary Committee Department of Justice Oversight hearing in February. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi /ALM

In a statement Friday, the committee's chairman, U.S. Rep. Jerrod Nadler, said he was "gratified" by Howell's ruling.

"The court's thoughtful ruling recognizes that our impeachment inquiry fully comports with the Constitution and thoroughly rejects the spurious White House claims to the contrary," he said. "This grand jury information that the administration has tried to block the House from seeing will be critical to our work."

Howell gave the government until Oct. 30 to release to the House the redacted portions of Mueller's report.

 

 

Read Howell's full opinion below:

 

 

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