Attorney General Bill Barr has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee for a "general oversight hearing" on July 28, according to DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.
The state of play: The news that Barr has agreed to testify comes after House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) threatened to issue a subpoena — and as the committee is in the midst of a hearing about the alleged politicization of the Justice Department under Barr and President Trump.
The big picture: Nadler's threat to subpoena Barr — which would have called on the attorney general to appear on July 2 — came after the firing of of Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who had been investigating Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
- Democrats have accused Barr of intervening in the cases of Trump associates Roger Stone and Michael Flynn for political purposes. On Wednesday, a DOJ whistleblower plans to testify before the committee that Stone was "treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the president."
- Barr has also come under scrutiny for his role in ordering federal law enforcement to physically clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square before Trump walked to St. John's Church for a photo op.
Worth noting: Barr had previously agreed to appear before the committee on March 31, but the hearing was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Go deeper: Former Roger Stone prosecutor to testify DOJ intervened in case for political purposes
