The House of Representatives' top lawyer told a federal appeals court Monday that the House is investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller, and the attorney urged the judges to order the release of still-secret material from Mueller's investigation.
Two of the three judges who heard arguments at the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Judith Rogers, a Clinton appointee, and Thomas Griffith, an appointee of George W Bush seemed prepared to order at least some of the material sought by the House to be turned over.
House General Counsel Douglas Letter told the judges that the need for the still-secret material redacted from the Mueller report is immense because it will help House members answer the question, Did the president lie? Was the president not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?" in his written responses to the probe.
The House Judiciary Committee is seeking grand jury testimony and other details redacted from the public version of Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Last month a judge ordered the Justice Department to turn over the redacted material, but the Trump administration appealed. Whatever the appeals panel decides, the case is likely headed to the Supreme Court.
Griffith suggested that the House had a particular need for the material since the Mueller report ultimately left it to Congress to decide whether Trump had obstructed the Mueller probe.
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But a third judge, Trump appointee Neomi Rao, seemed more sympathetic to the Justice Department's arguments against releasing the information. She questioned whether the courts should get involved in any way in a dispute over impeachment between the legislative and executive branches.
Justice Department lawyers say they are barred from releasing the redacted material, in part because an impeachment inquiry does not qualify as a judicial proceeding under the federal law governing release of grand jury materials.