![]() ![]() The president and Congress are,” Goodlatte said. “The Department of Justice and the FBI are not mentioned in the U.S. ![]() Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., signaled the hearing’s tone in his opening remarks when he complained about the Justice Department’s failure to produce all the requested documents. He also dismissed media reports that he had threatened to subpoena staff members of the House Intelligence Committee, saying to laughter, “There’s no way to subpoena phone calls.” “Whenever you have brought issues to my attention, I have taken appropriate steps to remedy them,” he added. Lawmakers have threatened to hold top DOJ officials in contempt or vote to impeach them if the documents aren’t turned over. The Justice Department has already turned over more than 800,000 documents to congressional committees, but the subpoenas seek additional materials, including records about any surveillance of Trump campaign associates. The House judiciary and intelligence panels, which have subpoenaed the documents, want to use the records for congressional investigations into the FBI’s decision to clear Clinton in the email probe and its opening of an investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. “Yes, when we get these documents, we believe that it will do away with this whole fiasco of what they call the Russian Trump collusion because there wasn’t any,” he said on the House floor. ![]() Mark Meadows, R-N.C., one of the resolution’s sponsors, did not deny Democratic assertions that the document requests were related to efforts to undercut Mueller’s probe. Both investigations unfolded during the presidential election, causing the FBI - which prides itself on independence - to become entangled in presidential politics in ways that are continuing to shake out. The resolution that passed along party lines Thursday demanded that the department turn over by July 6 documents on FBI investigations into Clinton’s private email use and Trump campaign ties to Russia. His lawyer called Thursday night for the committee to release the entire transcript of the interview instead of “leaking selective excerpts designed to further a partisan agenda.” The inspector general criticized the officials for creating an appearance of impropriety but did not find evidence that bias had tainted prosecutors’ decisions in the Clinton investigation. On Wednesday, lawmakers spent 11 hours behind closed doors grilling Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who worked on both the Clinton and Russia investigations and traded anti-Trump text messages with an FBI lawyer. The hearing came amid Republican attacks on the Justice Department and allegations of FBI bias against Trump. “We are not in contempt of this Congress, and we are not going to be in contempt of this Congress,” he said. He said despite Republican allegations, he was “not trying to hide anything.” Rosenstein, at times raising his voice and pointing his finger, strongly defended himself and the department, saying he was doing his best to balance congressional oversight with the need to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations. “Whatever you got,” Gowdy added, “finish it the hell up because this country is being torn apart.” ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |