WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has ruled that the Justice Department must give Congress secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
The ruling gives the House a win in a separation-of-powers clash with the Trump administration.
The three-judge panel said in a 2-1 opinion that House Democrats were entitled to the material as part of their ongoing investigation into President Donald Trump's conduct.
The opinion authorizes access to information that Democrats have sought since the conclusion of Mueller's investigation, giving lawmakers previously-undisclosed details from the two-year Russia probe.
Last week, a federal judge has sharply rebuked Attorney General William Barr's handling of the special counsel's Russia report.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton says Barr made a “calculated effort" to spin the investigation's findings in favor of President Donald Trump and showed a “lack of candor."
He delivered the criticism in a 23-page ruling in which he said he would review an unredacted version of the Mueller report before deciding what additional information from the document should be publicly disclosed.
Walton says he needs to review the document itself because he cannot trust that the Justice Department's redactions of the report were made in good faith.
The probe by special counsel Robert Mueller was into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
