Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., denounced “exchanging letters and seeing who can leak them the quickest” as a poor way for him and his colleagues in Congress to successfully obtain information they seek from the executive branch of government.
Instead, the House Oversight chairman hailed face-to-face interactions being far more effective, as evidenced by what he described was a “productive” classified briefing with intelligence community leaders that followed a subpoena for information regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“I think we’re getting farther taking this approach meeting eyeball to eyeball as opposed to exchanging letters and seeing who can leak them the quickest. That is not constructive,” Gowdy said during a Fox News segment Friday evening.
“What is constructive is to have a conversation and I think we’re making progress toward accessing the document,” he added.
The interview followed Gowdy’s meeting with officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, DOJ, and FBI, along with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., after Nunes subpoenaed the Justice Department last week after the agency did not respond to a classified letter he sent late last month.
The subpoena reportedly demanded documents related to a U.S. citizen who contributed to the probe. However, the Justice Department — backed by the White House — told Nunes in a letter last week that turning over the requested information would be a risk to national security.
After the meeting, tensions between Nunes and the DOJ appeared to cool, as Gowdy and Nunes said they had a “productive discussion” and expected more discussion on the matter next week.
During the segment on Fox News, Gowdy said he still hopes to see the documents and noted that the “tension” between the three branches of government is intentional and is something Congress will just have to work through.
