By Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner and Amanda Wills, CNN
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat of Tennessee, had an unusual breakfast at today's hearing: fried chicken.
Cohen ate from a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken at today's House Judiciary Committee hearing.
After the hearing, Cohen spoke to reporters.
"Chicken Barr should have showed up today," he said. "It's a sad day in America."
See it here:
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler abruptly ended the hearing following Republican Doug Collins' remarks.
Nadler closed by saying this:
"We will not hear from the attorney general today, but this committee intends to get the information it needs to conduct this constitutional oversight and legislative responsibilities. We will defend the prerogatives of Congress. We will defend the rights of the American people to know what's going on. We will defend the constitutional scheme of equal and coordinate branches of government, we will make sure that no president becomes a monarch. We need the information without delay."
Republican Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Democrats, blaming them for Attorney General William Barr's decision to skip today's hearing.
“The reason Bill Barr is not here today is because the Democrats decided they didn’t want him here today. That’s the reason he is not here," he said.
Some context: Barr's decision came after a dispute between House Democrats and the nation's top law enforcement officer over whether Barr would publicly face questions from committee staff attorneys.
In a fiery speech, Collins called today's actions a "stunt" and a "circus" and defended Barr, who answered questions at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday.
"What is amazing to me is to say that he is scared of answering questions, scared — you can disagree with the attorney general all you want, but for yesterday he sat for over six hours in the Senate voluntarily answering questions, even on a second round that was taken up by Democrats who wanted to ask more questions," he said. "You can argue 'Did he do good? Did he do bad?' It doesn’t matter — but we’re not getting that opportunity today because of the stunt and the circus continues over here."
Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he will move to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt "if he stalls or fails to negotiate in good faith."
“Yes, we will continue to negotiate for access to the full report for another couple of days, and yes, we will have no choice but to move quickly to hold the attorney general in contempt if he stalls or fails to negotiate in good faith, but the attorney general must make a choice,” Nadler said.
Nadler gaveled into today's hearing without Barr and explained that the Department of Justice wrote the committee to say it would ignore a subpoena for the full Mueller report.
“The choice is simple, we can stand up to this President in defense of the country and the constitution and the liberty we love, or we can let the moment pass us by," he said.
At 9 a.m. ET on the dot, Attorney General William Barr departed his house in McLean, Virginia — presumably on his way to his office at the Department of Justice.
The House Judiciary hearing was getting ready to begin on Capitol Hill at that moment. They officially gaveled in at 9:05 a.m. ET.
The House Judiciary Committee is still meeting this morning, even though Attorney General William Barr is skipping it.
However, the committee has set up a literal empty chair in the hearing room for the attorney general.
Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, marking his first public testimony since the release of the redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
Here are some of the key things Barr said:
From CNN's Ashley Killough and Jeremy Herb
The House Judiciary Committee will still meet Thursday, without Barr —creating the spectacle of a literal empty chair in the hearing room for the attorney general
But note: Committee chairman Jerry Nadler said the panel's primary focus is to obtain the full report and Mueller's underlying evidence, not Barr's testimony.
"Our first priority is to get the unredacted Mueller report," Nadler said.
From CNN's Ashley Killough and Jeremy Herb
Attorney General William Barr spent several hours testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. He was supposed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee today — but now that's not happening.
Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler announced Wednesday that Barr will skip today's hearing following a dispute between House Democrats and the nation's top law enforcement officer over whether Barr would publicly face questions from committee staff attorneys.
The Justice Department also informed the committee that it would not comply with its subpoena for the full, unredacted report from special counsel Robert Mueller, Nadler said, missing a deadline the committee had set for Wednesday.
So what happens now? If the Justice Department does not change course in the next day or two, Nadler said, the committee is likely to begin contempt proceedings against Barr over defying the subpoena for the full report.