INTERVIEW – SUSAN FERRECHIO – chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner – previewed the week ahead in Congress.
- Barr Threatens Not to Testify Before House, but Democrats May Subpoena Him. (NY Times) — WASHINGTON — The powerful chairman of the House Judiciary Committee threatened on Sunday to subpoena Attorney General William P. Barr if Mr. Barr refuses to testify this week, a move that could lead to a major escalation of the long-running feud between the White House and congressional Democrats over testimony and access to documents. The threat by the chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, came on the eve of Democrats’ return to Washington after a two-week congressional recess that has been dominated by questions about the special counsel’s report. Mr. Barr is scheduled to come before Mr. Nadler’s committee on Thursday to testify about it. But Mr. Barr and Democrats are at loggerheads over the Democrats’ proposed format for questioning him, and now the much-anticipated hearing is in doubt. The dispute spilled out into the open on Sunday when Democrats revealed that Mr. Barr was threatening to skip the session if they did not change their terms. Mr. Nadler said they have no intention of doing so.
- Congress returns this week: Here’s where the Democratic investigations stand. (CNN) The long-simmering feud over Democratic investigations burst into an all-out war last week between the Trump administration and congressional Democrats. Lawmakers weren’t in Washington last week during their Easter recess, but that didn’t stop a flurry of jostling over the Democratic investigations, after the White House and Trump administration stonewalled Democrats on multiple requests for documents and interviews and filed suit to try to stop a subpoena. “We’re fighting all the subpoenas,” President Donald Trump said Wednesday. Democrats are now preparing their response to Trump’s refusal to cooperate, weighing steps that include holding administration officials in contempt, suing to enforce their subpoenas — and even threatening to try to fine or jail those who refuse to comply. “We will use any and all power in our command to make sure it’s backed up — whether that’s a contempt citation, whether that’s going to court and getting that citation enforced, whether it’s fines, whether it’s possible incarceration,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat. “We will go to the max to enforce the constitutional role of the legislative branch of government.” The fighting is only likely to intensify on a number of fronts, as Democrats seek to pry documents from the Trump administration, secure interviews with current and former officials and obtain the President’s tax returns.
