Leading conservative Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said Saturday that a group of his colleagues are considering the use of the “contempt of Congress” statute because the Justice Department is failing to comply with a subpoena to hand over 1.2 million documents relating to three investigations.
The easiest thing to do, Meadows told Fox News, is to have Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein call DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz and tell him to just give the documents to Congress.
What are the documents about?
Lawmakers are seeking documents relating to the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, according to reports.
If Rosenstein fails to take action to allow Congress to “have our constitutional oversight authority supported, then we’ll find someone who can,” Meadows said.
Meadows suggested impeachment is a possibility.
“But it’s not enough to stop there,” Meadows told the news outlet. He made the comment hours after President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that the Justice Department was “slow walking” after it missed a Thursday deadline to hand over the documents.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) sent a subpoena to Rosenstein more than two weeks ago, according to published reports. That happened after the agency failed to respond to a request for the documents made by Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)
Was an extension granted?
“Here are the next two things you have to do,” Meadows told Fox News. “We have given a short deadline. I’ve given a deadline of this week. We need to see the documents.”
A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide told the Washington Examiner Thursday they were working with the DOJ to take “immediate steps to comply with the subpoena and produce documents to the Committee.”
via TheBlaze.com – Stories
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