Justice Dept calls full Mueller report subpoena 'premature and unnecessary'
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The U.S. Justice Department dismissed a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee for an unredacted copy of the report produced by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as "premature and unnecessary" in a statement on Friday.
"Congressman Nadler's subpoena is premature and unnecessary. The Department will continue to work with Congress to accommodate its legitimate requests consistent with the law and long-recognized executive branch interests," DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement, referring to the committee's chairman, Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat.
Explaining the reason for his issuance of the subpoena, Nadler said he cannot accept a redacted version that "leaves most of Congress in the dark."
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 26, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice. The redactions appear to be significant. We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the Special Counsel developed to make this case," Nadler said in a statement, the day after the release of the 448-page report.
Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russians but did find "multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations."
While Mueller ultimately decided not to charge Trump with a crime such as obstruction of justice, he also said that the investigation did not exonerate the president.
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In the meantime, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, on Friday said Congress should begin the process of removing President Donald Trump from office over findings in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to supporters in Memphis, Tennessee, March 17, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks to supporters in Memphis, Tennessee, March 17, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty," Warren said on Twitter. “That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States."
Warren is the first of the major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination to call for impeachment, a day after the release of Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
She said that "to ignore a President's repeated efforts to obstruct an investigation into his own disloyal behavior would inflict great and lasting damage on this country."
Other Democratic leaders have played down talk of impeachment of Trump just 18 months before the 2020 presidential election.
Source(s): Reuters