WASHINGTON – Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee spoke on the floor of the United States Senate about the House Judiciary Committee voting 24 to 16 on Tuesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for his unwillingness to release an unredacted version of the Mueller Report.

The report’s few redactions were made because some material subject to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) that by law can’t be made public. Also, the material included items still before grand juries in ongoing investigations. The redactions also include content the intelligence community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and methods. Lastly, material that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.

Barr made an mostly unredacted version available to the leadership of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

“Mr. Barr has been transparent,” Grassley said. “He made the Mueller report available to them – 99 percent un-redacted in the obstruction section of that report. Instead of reading it, the Democrats who voted contempt moved like lightning straight to the charge of contempt. To me, that’s not good-faith negotiation.”

Grassley discussed when the House of Representatives found former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress by a 255 to 67 vote.

“(T)he House only held Attorney General Holder in contempt after many months of negotiations over documents that were withheld on bogus grounds,” he said. “And just for, connecting that to an issue, that was the Fast and the Furious investigation that I was involved in as well. We had a very good case against Holder. We attempted to negotiate with Holder for a long period of time before the other body held him in contempt.”

Grassley added that the case against Barr was not a good one.

He also warned about potential consequences to the House Judiciary Committee vote. “(T)his is going to make it very, very difficult in the future for Congress to conduct its constitutional role of oversight because future presidents are going to use this as an example of bad-faith attempt to negotiate with the executive branch of government to get what you want. And maybe what they want isn’t real information or real congressional oversight. They may be trying to make political points,” he said.

Watch below:

You May Also Like

John Delaney Stood Out In First Debate Because of His Sanity

Shane Vander Hart: U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland was the sanest candidate on stage during the first NBC News Democratic Presidential Debate.

Three Concerns With Hawley’s Internet Censorship Bill

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act, Shane Vander Hart expresses three concerns with the bill as written.

King Asks President Trump to Make ‘Declarative Statement’ on Renewable Fuel Standard

U.S. Rep. Steve King asks President Trump to declare that a minimum of 15 billion gallons will be blended annually and waivers to be recaptured under the RFS.

Over 62,500,000 Lives Lost and a President Who Celebrates It

Shane Vander Hart: After 62.5 estimated lives lost to abortion, President Joe Biden wants to expand abortion access, have taxpayers pay for it, and see Roe v. Wade codified.