After months of total stonewalling by the Trump administration, subpoenas are starting to fly. The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday subpoenaed the full Mueller report along with all information related to the counterintelligence probe, which has continued to remain almost a complete mystery since the Russia investigation’s completion.
Both House Intelligence chair Adam Schiff and ranking GOP member Devin Nunes have repeatedly requested counterintelligence briefings from the FBI and the Justice Department, though what they hope to ascertain from such a briefing varies greatly. Schiff said the committee had “no choice” but to issue a subpoena after its requests had been met by the Justice Department with only “silence and defiance.” The deadline for cooperation is May 15. Since taking over the House Intelligence Committee, Schiff has refocused the panel on the counterintelligence aspect of the Russia probe. His main concern is determining whether Trump has been compromised by a foreign power and therefore isn’t acting in the best interests of the country.
Earlier in the day, the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for refusing to respond to the panel’s subpoena for the full Mueller report. "We are now in a constitutional crisis," Nadler declared in a press conference following the committee vote.