The Justice Department has invited House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., to a classified briefing Thursday, a source familiar with the situation told the Washington Examiner.
The invitation comes after Nunes threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress over the agency’s resistance related to the chairman’s efforts to obtain documents related to the Russia investigation.
Nunes sent a classified letter to Sessions last month, which he said was not acknowledged. Then, he subpoenaed the Justice Department for the information, though never quite said what he was looking for in either notification.
The Justice Department declined Nunes’ request, telling him last week in a letter that turning over that information could “risk severe consequences, including potential loss of human lives, damage to relationships with valued international partners, compromise of ongoing criminal investigations, and interference with intelligence activities.”
The White House backed up the Justice Department’s letter to Nunes, a Justice Department official told the Washington Examiner.
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that the information by Nunes requested puts a top-secret intelligence source at risk.
A spokesperson for Nunes declined to comment Wednesday, and a Gowdy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
