Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano predicted on Tuesday that Attorney General William Barr’s decision to turn over additional evidence from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation poses a “potential nightmare” for President Donald Trump.
Napolitano explained the legal implications of the deal struck between Barr and House Judiciary chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) during a morning appearance on Fox & Friends. Napolitano said the deal was a threat to the president because the evidence being turned over was not merely the unredacted Mueller report, but documents used to create the report, including financial documents, interview transcripts, and wiretaps.
Napolitano also said the deal “proved the president correct,” because he has decried the House’s investigation into his actions as a “do-over” of the Mueller investigation, which Napolitano says is “exactly what the Democrats want to do.”
“It is almost unheard of for the Justice Department to release raw evidence to another entity so that the Justice Department can be second guessed,” he said. “But that’s what the Attorney General agreed to do yesterday.”
“The president is out of legal jeopardy because the Mueller investigation is over with, but he’s not out of political jeopardy because his opponents in the House of Representatives will take documents acquired in the legal investigation and use them, as the President says, for a ‘do-over’ on the political side,” he continued.
Napolitano went on to express his surprise that Barr agreed to Nadler’s request, stating his opinion that the Attorney General was not required by law to turn over the documents. Napolitano explained, however, that Barr was likely persuaded by Democrats’ threat to hold him in contempt and seek the documents through a federal judge.
The DOJ and Judiciary Committee reached a deal Monday, just hours before hearings on presidential obstruction and other crimes were scheduled to begin.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the Committee intends to continue their investigation into whether or not the president committed obstruction of justice and believes obtaining Mueller’s underlying evidence could represent a turning point in the inquiry.
Prior to Monday’s agreement, current and former Trump Administration officials had routinely flouted congressional subpoenas.
Napolitano has been making headlines with his Fox News appearances of late. Just last month he rebuked Barr for his “absurd” definition of what constitutes obstruction of justice and accused him of acting like the president’s personal attorney; he also criticized Mueller for “dropping the ball” in not charging Trump with obstruction.
[image via Fox News screengrab]