Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, had a two-word response Friday to reports that a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to give House Democrats secret grand jury testimony from Robert Mueller's Russia investigation for their impeachment probe of President Donald Trump.
"Highly likely," Cornyn, who was first elected in 2002, tweeted in response to a comment in Fox News reporter Chad Pergram's post on the ruling: "Likely an administration appeal is coming."
U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell in Washington ruled Friday that, while the Justice Department had argued that existing law barred it from sharing the materials with the House Judiciary Committee, "DOJ is wrong."
"In carrying out the weighty constitutional duty of determining whether impeachment of the president is warranted, Congress need not redo the nearly two years of effort spent on the special counsel's investigation, nor risk being misled by witnesses, who may have provided information to the grand jury and the special counsel that varies from what they tell" the Judiciary Committee, Howell wrote.
But in her 75-page ruling, Howell decided that the redacted portions of Mueller's final report should remain secret because of ongoing criminal cases arising from the special counsel's investigation.
Howell, 62, whom former President Barack Obama nominated in 2010, said the Justice Department must provide the redacted information to the House panel by Oct. 30.
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