By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday asserted executive privilege over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report and its underlying investigative materials, escalating a battle with the Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

The move, announced by the Justice Department in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, came just minutes before the panel was poised to vote to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for defying a congressional subpoena to hand over the full unredacted report.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)