House Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are expected to vote Tuesday to allow time for additional questioning, potentially from staff, of Attorney General William Barr during Thursday’s scheduled hearing. Allowing questioning from staff attorneys is a practice both parties have employed in the past—most notably, Senate Republicans used an outside questioner to query Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during part of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings. But Barr is now threatening to pull out of the House Judiciary hearing scheduled for Thursday if staff attorneys are allowed to cross-examine him.
It's pretty stunning, actually, that the attorney general of the United States is afraid of taking questions from a few lawyers. As former Hillary Clinton spokesperson and head of We Demand Justice Brian Fallon noted, "Christine Blasey Ford bravely took questions from an outside lawyer because Republicans insisted on it. But now the Attorney General of the United States is afraid of being questioned by staff lawyers about the Mueller report?"
The New York Times notes other occasions in which staff members have been allowed to question witnesses during public hearings and private interviews, including impeaching inquiries for both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton and the GOP-led inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails.
But the top law enforcement official in the country appears to be pretty pissy about the whole thing. Once Justice Department officials learned of Democrats' plans last Friday, one official returned to the panel "very worked up" about it and threatening that Barr might skip the hearing.
Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement: "The attorney general agreed to appear before Congress. Therefore, members of Congress should be the ones doing the questioning. He remains happy to engage with members on their questions regarding the Mueller report."
Barr has stuck to the threat from Friday, but House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler told CNN on Sunday that Barr wasn't going to tell Congress how to perform its oversight duties. "The witness is not going to tell the committee how to conduct its hearing, period," Nadler said, adding that if Barr refused to comply, Democrats would have to subpoena him.