House Judiciary chairman says US in 'constitutional crisis'

"The phrase constitutional crisis has been overused, but certainly," Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on "New Day." "Certainly, it's a constitutional crisis, although I don't like to use that phrase because it's been used for far less dangerous situations."

How to know when it's a constitutional crisis

He added, "We are in one because the President is disobeying the law, is refusing all information to Congress."

Nadler's committee is poised to hold a vote Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress in the face of a threat from the Justice Department that President Donald Trump will declare executive privilege over an unredacted version of the Mueller report and its underlying evidence.

Following a day's worth of negotiations and offers traded between committee staff and Justice Department officials, the department late Tuesday threatened to ask Trump to invoke executive privilege over the unredacted Mueller report and evidence if the contempt vote moves forward.

Justice Dept. threatens executive privilege over Mueller report and underlying evidence

Nadler responded by saying the vote would still move forward, accusing the Justice Department of a "last-minute outburst" and urging negotiations over the Mueller report to continue.

The decision to hold Barr in contempt signifies the anger simmering from Democrats over what they see as across-the-board stonewalling of their oversight of the Trump administration. They have had subpoenas blocked by the administration, witnesses decline to testify, lawsuits filed by the President to block their subpoenas and earlier this week the Treasury Department rejected a request for the President's tax returns.

CNN's Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

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