Judge Napolitano 'surprised' Bill Barr agreed to turn over Mueller report documents to Nadler

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Judge Napolitano 'surprised' that DOJ would release Mueller documents to Congress

The attorney general did not have to do this, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano says.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said Tuesday morning he was "kind of surprised" that the Justice Department agreed to turn over key evidence from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections, which included whether there were ties between President Trump and Russian officials.

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., announced Monday that he plans to hit pause on efforts to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt of Congress.

Nadler’s announcement came after the Judiciary Committee voted to hold Barr in contempt last month after the Justice Department did not comply with a subpoena seeking access to an unredacted version of Mueller’s report, as well as underlying documents and evidence. President Trump also asserted executive privilege over the files in a bid to protect them from release.

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Nadler said the Justice Department would begin sharing the documents with his panel late Monday, and added that both Democrats and Republicans would have access to the files.

Nadler did say, however, that if “important information is held back,” then the committee would have “no choice but to enforce our subpoena in court and consider other remedies.”

Reacting to the developments on "Fox & Friends," Napolitano called it a "surprising" move by Barr and one that could have been averted.

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"It also shows you the power the Congress has," he said, adding he believes Barr made the deal to avoid being held in contempt of Congress and later being forced to comply with the subpoena by a federal judge.

Napolitano said Barr should not have "sat on" the subpoena from the Judiciary Committee, but immediately challenged it in federal court.

"The attorney general is a very smart fellow, but I am surprised he agreed to release these documents."

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.