Lawmakers clash as Attorney General William Barr skips House hearing on Mueller report

Attorney General William Barr made good Thursday on his threat to skip a House hearing into Russian interference in the 2016 election, so lawmakers battled one another instead.

Barr refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report because the committee agreed to add an hour of questions by staff lawyers. The hearing was to have been his second day of testimony about the investigation and his handling of the special counsel's final report. Barr spent four hours before a Senate panel on Wednesday.

Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., accused President Donald Trump's administration of ignoring subpoenas and refusing to testify, a pattern he said reflects an effort to prevent Congress "from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions."

“The challenge we face is that if we don’t stand up to him together, today, then we risk forever losing the power to stand up to any president in the future," Nadler said.

Nadler had said Barr was afraid to attend because of his fear of being questioned by trained lawyers. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., walked into the House hearing room with a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and noshed on a drumstick to mark Barr's absence.

But the top Republican on the panel, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, called the meeting a political stunt that prevented Barr's testimony for lawmakers of either party. “Instead we go back to a circus political stunt," Collins said. "They want it to look like an impeachment hearing because they won't bring impeachment proceedings."

The hearing ended bitterly.