WASHINGTON _ House Democrats are taking the first steps toward issuing subpoenas for special counsel Robert Mueller's entire report, as well as for documents from five former associates of President Donald Trump, setting up potential legal showdowns.
The House Judiciary Committee plans to hold votes on Wednesday to authorize the subpoenas, the panel said Monday in a press release. Three days earlier, Attorney General William Barr said he would provide Congress with a redacted version of Mueller's report on his investigation into Trump and Russian election meddling by mid-April.
The Judiciary Committee said it also plans to authorize subpoenas for certain documents from former White House Counsel Don McGahn, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former communications director Hope Hicks, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and former White House aide Ann Donaldson.
The committee said these individuals or their lawyers may have received documents from the White House relevant to Mueller's investigation.
Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler had earlier demanded that the White House turn over Mueller's full report by Tuesday. Barr revealed in a letter Friday to Nadler that Mueller's report is almost 400 pages, not including tables and exhibits. But Nadler says the House wants the full report, and its attachments.
Barr told lawmakers that sensitive material such as grand jury evidence will be stripped out of the version he sends to Congress. But he suggested that he wouldn't remove information just because it's critical of Trump or senior figures in his 2016 campaign.
Barr released a four-page summary of the report on March 24, saying that Mueller didn't establish that Trump or anyone associated with his campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia.
But Mueller didn't exonerate Trump on the question of whether he obstructed the investigation, according to Barr's summary. Congressional Democrats have criticized that brief summation as inadequate.
Trump tweeted about the Mueller probe on Monday.
"Now that the long awaited Mueller Report conclusions have been released, most Democrats and others have gone back to the pre-Witch Hunt phase of their lives before Collusion Delusion took over. Others are pretending that their former hero, Bob Mueller, no longer exists!" he wrote.
