Collins on Nadler’s contempt vote: 'He wants to subpoena everything that moves'

close

Video

Rep. Nadler says he will not drop the House Judiciary Committee's contempt vote against AG Barr

Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins says Attorney General William Barr cannot be charged with contempt because the information Rep. Jerry Nadler asked from him was illegal to provide.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is pushing ahead with his planned contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr simply because he wants to “subpoena everything that moves,” according to Republican Rep. Doug Collins.

Appearing on “America’s Newsroom,” Collins, R-Ga., Wednesday told hosts Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith, “We’re seeing a chairman who frankly has shown, in five and a half months, he really doesn’t know what he wants.

"Except that, frankly, he wants to subpoena everything that moves. He wants to go to contempt and now he’s come back after holding someone in contempt --think about what’s happening here -- you have a chairman who held somebody in contempt on false grounds and now he’s saying ‘I’m open to negotiate.’ He knows he can’t win in court; that’s what this is all about.”

The accusation came just hours after the Department of Justice slammed House Democrats for planning the vote and charged that they had privately admitted their subpoena requests were “overbroad.”

DOJ REVEALS DEMS ACKNOWLEDGED BARR SUBPOENA WAS 'OVERBROAD'; NADLER FIRES BACK, OFFERS TO MEET 'WITHOUT CONDITIONS'

Video

On Tuesday morning, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd penned a letter blasting Nadler and House Democrats for announcing they would vote next week on whether to hold Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt.

Boyd called on the House Judiciary Committee to “moot” its May 8 vote to hold Barr in contempt, but said they were “prepared to resume negotiations with the committee regarding accommodation of its narrowed Subpoena" -- as long as Democrats removed the "threat of an imminent vote by the House of Representatives to hold the attorney general in contempt."

In response, late that night, Nadler announced he was open to negotiating with the DOJ “without conditions,” sending Republicans and DOJ spokesmen into a frenzy.

“We are here and ready to negotiate as early as tomorrow morning," he wrote.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SCHOLAR: CONGRESS HEADING INTO 'WORLD OF HURT' WITH BARR CONTEMPT VOTE

However, Nadler has refused to cancel the proposed vote prior to beginning any new negotiations, and also criticized what he called DOJ “brinkmanship.”

In response, Collins highlighted the DOJ's revelation that Nadler apparently signaled a willingness to work with the DOJ: “After racing to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt, Chairman Nadler finally seems ready to join the Justice Department at the negotiating table," he said.

"When Judiciary Democrats wield subpoena power like a sword instead of a plow, their investigations bear little fruit. The House Intelligence Committee has shown us that working with the Justice Department in good faith yields documents. Abusing subpoena and contempt authority, however, has left the Judiciary Committee with little to show for its obsessively unreasonable demands."

On Wednesday, Collins repeated those sentiments, accusing Nadler of not have a “legitimate legislative purpose” in which to base his vote: “A legitimate legislative purpose is not presidential harassment on an issue in which Mueller has spoken. It is a purpose in which he just simply wants to get it out there to appear he’s trying to impeach.”

ANALYSIS: BARR DETERMINED TO FIND TRUTH BEHIND ORIGINS OF RUSSIA PROBE -- AND DEMS ARE WORRIED

“How can you have a contempt for making the Attorney General follow the law? This is nothing but a circus and the chairman…I’m not sure where he wants to go next except he’s feeding a base that is pushing him,” he said.

A vote of contempt against Barr would be historic, but not unprecedented. In 2012, the Republican-controlled House voted to hold former Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for failing to comply with investigations into the Obama administration's failed gun-running sting operation, "Fast and Furious."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The resolution is scheduled for a June 11 floor vote and would allow the Judiciary Committee to pursue civil action to seek enforcement of its subpoenas in federal court.

“The chairman’s not negotiating. He’s coming back with the same tired talking points that he’s said before,” Collins said.