President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege over all of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative documents sought by House Democrats, a major escalation in a conflict between the White House and Congress.”The president has asserted executive privilege over the entirety of the subpoenaed materials,” the Justice Department wrote in a letter Wednesday to House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler. The move comes just as Nadler’s committee was set to vote on holding Attorney General William Barr in contempt for failing to comply with the subpoena, which sought access to a full, unredacted version of Mueller’s final report as well as all of his underlying evidence, such as notes that White House aides made.
“Faced with Chairman Nadler’s blatant abuse of power, and at the attorney general’s request, the President has no other option than to make a protective assertion of executive privilege,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
