Trump claims executive privilege on Mueller report

(NBC News) President Trump is asserting executive privilege over special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted Russia report and any supporting documents, marking a dramatic escalation in the White House fight with House Democrats.

The president’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee began a hearing over whether to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for not complying with a subpoena for the unredacted report.

“This decision represents a clear escalation in the Trump Administration’s blanket defiance of Congress’s constitutionally mandated duties,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler said in response.

A Justice Department official told Chairman Nadler his decision to move forward with the contempt hearing “terminated” good faith talks between the two parties.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the president’s stance is troubling.

“Every single day, the president is making a case, he’s becoming self-impeachable, in terms of some of the things that he is doing,” Pelosi said.

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