Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon, Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, offerred these remarks during the Committee's markup to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.

"It is easy to lose focus when the White House and our colleagues across the aisle engage in 'what-aboutism' or what is the distraction of the day or misleading legal arguments. Nobody is asking the Attorney General to disobey the law. We are asking the Attorney General to obey the law and produce the Mueller report and the supporting documentation, the underlying evidence that we have been requesting for a couple months now and that the American people have been waiting for two years.

"Why is this important? If you think there is no collusion and no obstruction, you haven’t read the Mueller report. I admit it is not an easy read, but it clearly states that there was coordination, there’s evidence of coordination, it clearly states there are multiple instances of obstruction of justice, and it clearly refers that over to Congress to deal with.

"Over 700 federal prosecutors have now reviewed that evidence, just the redacted evidence, not even the underlying evidence, and stated unequivocally that it shows multiple instances that would be felonies if it was anyone other than a sitting president and that’s the reason why Mueller didn’t charge. He says in his report it was a sitting president, under the rules I'm operating under, I couldn’t file charges. That is why it is Congress's job to do something about it and that is why we're staying focused on our job.

"I’m not joyful about this, I'm not afraid of where it takes us, what I am is profoundly saddened that we're in a position where we have an administration that is stonewalling, and yes even acting in contempt of not just Congress, not just the rule of law, but the American people and with that I yield back."