This story was updated at 8:02 p.m.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., sent a subpoena Thursday evening to the Department of Justice to gain access to documents related to the agency’s investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server in 2016.
Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., requested the documents four months ago.
“To date, the Department has only produced a fraction of the documents that have been requested,” Goodlatte said in a letter Thursday.
“Given the Department’s ongoing delays in producing these documents, I am left with no choice but to issue the enclosed subpoena to compel production of these documents,” Goodlatte added.
The subpoena also seeks documents on possible abuses pertaining to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Goodlatte said the agency has not provided any documents per a request in February.
The Judiciary Committee wants all documents and communications from the agency’s office of the inspector general on the “FBI’s decision-making” in the investigation of the Clinton’s unauthorized server during her time leading the State Department under the Obama administration.
The panel also seeks all documents and communications with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court concerning any FISA applications to spy on former Trump campaign official Carter Page or any other members of the campaign and Trump administration.
The request comes after the Republican majority in the House Intelligence Committee released a memo which alleged the FBI and DOJ inappropriately obtained spy authority to keep tabs on Page.
In terms of more recent events, Goodlatte’s subpoena also demands documents and communications used by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility to recommend former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe be removed from his post.
McCabe was fired on Friday by Attorney General Jeff Sessions — less than 48 hours before he was able to retire with a full pension. He has been under internal investigation over the FBI’s role in federal investigations during the 2016 election.
In response to the subpoena, a DOJ spokesman said that the agency and the FBI take the inquiry “seriously” and are “committed to accommodating its oversight request in a manner consistent with the Department’s law enforcement and national security responsibility.”
“Since January, more than two dozen FBI staff have been assisting the Department in producing, on a rolling basis, responsive documents to the Committee’s broad request every 10 to 14 days,” DOJ spokesperson Ian Prior said in a statement. “The original universe of documents requested was substantial, but there are approximately 30,000 documents thought to be responsive to the Committee’s inquiry; of that, we have thus far delivered 3,000 documents to the Committee.”
“We are individually reviewing the remaining documents to ensure that they do not include grand jury information, information about ongoing law enforcement actions involving American citizens, or privileged attorney-client communications,” Prior added. “In cases where redactions have been necessary, the Department has, when appropriate, provided Committee staff an opportunity for in camera review of unreacted [sic.] materials.”
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., condemned the subpoena, claiming it was designed to “divert attention from the chaos surrounding the Trump Administration” and bring the focus back to Clinton. He also said the agency has “largely complied” with the request and has been submitting new materials to the committee regularly since “late last year.”
“Instead of using our time and resources to conduct oversight on pressing matters that actually impact our country today — like the Russian government’s ongoing attack on our elections of President Trump’s crusade to undermine the independence of the Department of Justice — Judiciary Republicans have chosen to issue a unilateral subpoena to acquire information related to Hillary Clinton’s emails. Their priorities are upside-down and out of touch with the American public,” Nadler said in a statement.
The subpoena requires a response by April 5 and comes after Goodlatte and Gowdy called for another second counsel to probe how the agency oversaw the Clinton investigation earlier this month.
