On Tuesday, the Republicans unpacked their new, unified theme for everything to do with the Mueller report and the Russia investigation: “case closed.” Mitch McConnell used the term in his speech wondering why Democrats weren’t sending him more bills to kill. An assortment of Republicans waxed lyrical about their desire to “do the business of the country” by sending more bills to McConnell to be killed. And Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee even declared that Democrats were full of “good ideas” and could be creating “great legislation” for McConnell to kill … if only they weren’t wasting their time protecting the constitutional authority of Congress.
But on Wednesday, the winds seemed to shift. After a daylong hearing in which Republicans were reduced to squirming in smaller and smaller patches of legalistic conjecture (“Show me a case like this! Okay, show me one that doesn’t involve impeachment! Okay, how about one that isn’t impeachment or an independent counsel! How about one decided on a Wednesday!”), the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold William Barr in contempt of Congress.
That’s an outcome that both Barr and Trump likely expected, and certainly one that they seemed to drive headlong toward when Barr cut off negotiations with Congress and instead sent the committee a letter threatening to shift executive privilege into ludicrous mode. Minutes before the committee meeting began, Trump did exactly that, making a blanket claim of executive privilege over all redacted parts of the Mueller report and all underlying materials.
But another congressional action on Wednesday seemed to catch the White House by surprise. Late in the afternoon, the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Republican Senator Richard Burr, issued a subpoena for Donald Trump Jr. In an interview, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that he didn’t know the subpoena was coming. And it does seem to have taken the White House by surprise.
Considering that one of the revelations from the Mueller report was that Burr shared information on the state of the Russia investigation with the White House, and that Mitch McConnell had clearly given the “case closed” marching orders, Trump may well have thought himself completely clear on anything coming from the Senate. Which makes this a surprising turn, and would seem to suggest that the reason for getting Junior back on the stand is pretty serious.
Expectations are that the reason for getting Trump’s eldest back in to testify has to do with how he flat-out lied to the Senate earlier about his knowledge of Trump’s Moscow Project. But that’s not certain. Neither is Trump Jr.’s response. He’s been making noises about how he only promised to appear once, and apparently doesn’t believe that the fact that he didn’t tell the truth during that appearance entitles the Senate to another shot. He may take the Fifth. During his interview, Mulvaney continually refers to Trump Jr. as “a private citizen,” which would seem to indicate that the White House may be putting some distance between itself and the first son.
What’s next for Barr is more certain. The contempt resolution will now pass out of committee and come before the full House. Expect Republicans to conduct another round of chest-beating, but unless the report miraculously appears, expect Nancy Pelosi to issue a citation holding Barr in contempt. That citation will go to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Barr will, of course, order that attorney not to pick it up. Then it will be time for the Congress to go to court with a civil action.
And on none of it is it “case closed.”