Radio Recap: White House Asserts Executive Privilege Over Special Counsel Report

The House Judiciary Committee is conducting a vote to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt, and leaders in the House, led by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), are demanding release of the full, unredacted Special Counsel report, despite the fact it includes sensitive and classified information.

On today’s show, we reported that the White House has asserted executive privilege to deny the demand for the full report, due to sensitive material – specifically grand jury information – that by law cannot be released to the public.

The Department of Justice offered a less-redacted version of the report, which would only withhold the grand jury information, but that was apparently not good enough.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders released an official statement announcing the President’s decision:

“The Attorney General has been transparent and accommodating throughout this process, including by releasing the no-collusion, no-conspiracy, no-obstruction Mueller Report to the public and offering to testify before the Committee. These attempts to work with the Committee have been flatly rejected . . . . Faced with Chairman Nadler’s blatant abuse of power, and at the attorney general’s request, the president has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege.”

Releasing grand jury information would be a criminal offense. We protect the innocent in this country, and we discussed how releasing the full, unredacted report could compromise that protection.

Even setting aside the legal restrictions, Congress already has more of the report than the Attorney General was required to provide, and more than enough to ascertain the Special Counsel’s conclusions. The redactions were minimal. The pertinent information is right there for everyone to read.

The Judiciary Committee’s demands are simply political theatrics and posturing in an attempt to discredit President Trump, Attorney General Barr, and the conclusions of the Special Counsel’s report. As Sarah Sanders said, “They didn’t like the results of the report, and now they want a redo.”

We also shared some great news out of our office in Pakistan. Today, we received reports that Christian mother Asia Bibi is now safe with her family in Canada. Six months ago, her conviction and death sentence were overturned by the Pakistani Supreme Court. However, mobs called for her death and urged the court to reconsider. Asia had to remain in Pakistan in protective custody, separated from her family. As we reported, the high court did not reconsider its decision. For four years, the ACLJ legal team worked tirelessly to save Asia’s life and obtain her freedom. Finally, today she is truly free and safe with her children.

You can listen to the entire episode here.