Ex-Trump lawyer goes down in flames on CNN after insisting Congress shouldn't press Barr for the Mueller report

Jim Schultz, former associate White House counsel for President Donald Trump, went down in flames Wednesday on CNN, as Elizabeth Holtzman, the former New York congresswoman who helped impeach Richard Nixon and helped write the independent counsel law, repeatedly took him to the woodshed over Attorney General Bill Barr's delay in getting the Mueller report into the hands of Congress.

Barr, Holtzman said, could get the grand jury materials to the Judiciary Committee simply by asking the court for permission, citing the precedent of Nixon's impeachment.

"Why isn't he doing that? That is the critical thing," she said. "It shows he's talking out of both sides of his mouth." She slammed Barr, who she said "acted in a very political way" by clearing Trump of obstruction.

Schultz went off on a tangent about Barr's review of the report but host Jim Sciutto cut him off, asking "why doesn't he go to a judge like Congresswoman Holtzman says?"

"He has every right as attorney general of the United States to review that material," Schultz said as Holtzman began openly laughing at him. "The disingenuousness here is the investigation of the investigation on the part of Congress here. Mueller has completed his investigation, the Democrats don't like the result, so now they want to investigate the investigation by pulling in White House staff."

"That's not what's happening," Holtzman shot back. "Democrats want the American people to see what Mueller found and right now, that's not being done."

Barr's refusal to get a court to release the material showed he was "perpetrating, in my view, a cover-up," she continued. "Secondly, there is no executive privilege with regard to the commission of a crime. That was decided in U.S. versus Nixon.'"

"Cover-up of what? Mueller made his findings of no collusion," said a frustrated Schultz. "Cover-up of what, congresswoman? I don't understand what you're asking." He accused House Democrats of engaging in "theater."

"Mueller made no finding on obstruction of justice. That's what Barr did, that was improper," Holtzman retorted, adding that Barr and Rosenstein "had no business doing that, they're not the special prosecutor."

By this time, Schultz was shouting over everyone and flailing magnificently, ignoring Sciutto's efforts to calm him down as Holtzman continued baiting him.

"The fact of the matter is, what do you have to hide? Let's make this public, that's the whole point," she said. "The more you obfuscate, the more words come out to try to cover up what it is, it didn't work in Watergate. It's not going to work."

"Mueller explicitly said on obstruction of justice he's not exonerating the president," piled on Sciutto. "Why don't the Americans have the right to see what he found?" Schultz pivoted to the cost of the investigation, and ran into a brick wall.

"What are they afraid of showing the American people? Why are they fighting so hard to keep this secret?" hectored Holtzman. "If you weren't worried, you would make it public and Barr would go to court but they're not doing it. Actions speak louder than any words."

Watch the video below.