Here's more detail ~ Sooz
Judge Orders DOJ To Turn Over Certain Mueller Grand Jury Materials To HouseBy Tierney Sneed | October 25, 2019 3:40 pm
The chief judge of D.C.’s federal court ordered the Justice Department on Friday to turn over to the House the portions of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that were redacted due to grand jury secrecy as well as those sections’ underlying grand jury transcripts or exhibits.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell gave the Justice Department until Oct. 30 to produce the materials to the House Judiciary Committee.
The ruling was a major victory for House Democrats who, until recently, had seen their oversight efforts almost entirely stonewalled by the Trump administration.
When the committee requested to see the report’s grand jury materials, the Justice Department claimed it was legally required to keep the information confidential — but declined to seek a court’s permission to disclose it as is permitted in certain circumstances.
Howell said the the DOJ’s interpretation of the law was “wrong.”
“In carrying out the weighty constitutional duty of determining whether impeachment of the President is warranted, Congress need not redo the nearly two years of effort spent on the Special Counsel’s investigation, nor risk being misled by witnesses, who may have provided information to the grand jury and the Special Counsel that varies from what they tell HJC,” she said.
In court, the House argued that its Mueller-related investigation was part of an impeachment inquiry. That claim came before Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly sanctioned the current impeachment push that’s focused on the President’s recent dealings with Ukraine.
Read Howell’s opinion below: [
interactive, long [75pp] opinion accessible via end link]
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/house-justice-department-mueller-report-grand-jury