A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that secret grand jury testimony about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, redacted from special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, must be handed over to the House of Representatives.
Given how much has happened in the past year since Mueller completed his investigation, this may seem like ancient history to many Americans. But Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have never stopped pursuing the redacted portions of Mueller’s report.
The 2-1 decision by the D.C. circuit court upholds a lower court ruling last year, which was appealed by the Justice Department.
“Judge Judith W. Rogers found the House in its impeachment investigation was legally engaged in a judicial process that exempts Congress from secrecy rules that typically shield grand jury materials from disclosure,” reports the Washington Post.
The decision is unlikely to be the final word; Justice officials can ask the same court to reconsider, or appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the Supreme Court.
“Federal courts, Rogers wrote, have long authorized the disclosure of grand jury materials for use in impeachment investigations involving two presidents and three federal judges,” the Post says.
“It is only the President’s categorical resistance and the Department’s objection that are unprecedented,” Rogers wrote.
“Mueller submitted his report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr in March 2019 after completing a 22-month investigation that detailed Russia’s campaign of hacking and propaganda to boost Trump’s candidacy in the 2016 election as well as extensive contacts between Trump’s campaign and Moscow,” says Reuters.
“Barr, a Trump appointee who Democrats have accused of trying to protect the president politically, released the 448-page report in April 2019 with some parts redacted.”
The House committee has been seeking the redacted material ever since.
