Rep. Doug Collins on Monday urged the House Judiciary Committee to invite Special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the committee later this month.

In Collins' letter to committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, the top-ranking Republican member said Mueller's testimony would be in the best interest of "both transparency and for the American public to learn the full contours of the Special Counsel's investigation."

House Democrats have been critical of the handling of the Mueller report by Attorney General William Barr, and on Wednesday approved subpoenas for the entire report and any exhibits and other underlying evidence that the Justice Department might have.

Barr, in turn, is defending his handling of Mueller's report on the Russia investigation, saying the confidential document contains sensitive grand jury material that prevents it from being immediately released to the public.

In his letter, Collins accuses Democrats of creating "an untenable but politically convenient situation" by forcing Barr to either "break the law to comply with your subpoena or label him as part of a cover-up if he does not."

Democrats have voiced concerns that Barr's four-page letter summarizing Mueller's conclusions unduly sanitized the full report in President Donald Trump's favor, including on the key question of whether the president obstructed justice.

Barr defended the decision to release a brief summary letter two days after receiving the report on March 22. He has previously said he did not believe it would be in the public's interest to release the full document in piecemeal or gradual fashion, and that he did not intend for his letter summarizing Mueller's "principal conclusions" to be an "exhaustive recounting" of the special counsel's investigation.

Barr is now expected to release the entire report, with redactions, by mid-April.

News editor Nate McCullough contributed to this report.