William Barr Fails to Attend Subpoena Issued by House Judiciary Committee

Patrick Kissel, Reporter

The House Judiciary Committee voted on May 15  to hold attorney general William Barr in contempt, after Barr did not attend a subpoena issued by the committee to attend a hearing in relation to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election.

Barr chose not to attend a hearing after attending a previous hearing with the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing was meant to probe into whether or not Barr attempted to mislead Congress with a four page letter, which has been criticized as misleading or false, he released after the announcement of the conclusion of the Mueller report.

“The law is the law. If you’re subpoenaed, you should show up no matter what position you’re in,” junior Sonya Ahmed said.

The vote to hold Barr in contempt, which was along party lines. 26 to 14, made Barr the first Trump administration official to be held in contempt by Congress, and will proceed to the House of Representatives for a vote of the whole body.

Trump never did anything wrong with Russia. The Mueller investigation was just a fat waste of time and money,” junior Carson Nuernberger said.

The day before the hearing, the committee was informed by a Justice Department official that President Donald Trump had invoked executive privilege over the Mueller report and all underlying evidence. This means Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler will not have the ability to subpoena the unredacted Mueller report, which Barr refused to hand over after the Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the report earlier that month.

“[Russian collusion allegations are] just liberal propaganda to try and turn republicans and democrats more against each other, and further divide our country,” junior Drew Chiodini said.