House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Sunday that Attorney General Bill Barr is “not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period.”
The blunt statement from Nadler came as CNN reported that Barr objected to the conditions Nadler set for Barr’s upcoming appearance before the committee.
“The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period,” Nadler told CNN.
If Barr doesn’t comply with the committee’s requests, Nadler said, “then we will have to subpoena him, and we will have to use whatever means we can to enforce the subpoena.”
Per an unnamed committee source “with knowledge of the matter,” Barr may respond to Nadler’s hearing format by not showing up at all.
Per the source, Nadler wants all committee members to have five minutes of questioning each, and also for each party’s counsels to be able to participate during an additional 30 minutes of questioning per side.
But, per the source, Barr has objected to being questioned by committee lawyers. Another unnamed source confirmed that stance to CNN.
The Washington Post subsequently confirmed the dispute and quoted an unnamed Justice Department official as saying: “Our position is the attorney general agreed to appear before Congress … Therefore, members are the ones who do the questioning.”
This post has been updated.
