Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened to subpoena two former attorneys general, William Barr and Jeff Sessions, over congressional phone records secretly seized by the Justice Department during the Trump administration.
On the Senate floor Monday, the New York Democrat said that Barr and Sessions must testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about their involvement in the seizure.
“If they refuse, they are subject to being subpoenaed and compelled to testify under oath, “ Schumer said, calling the secret investigation “an appalling politicization” of the department.
LATEST BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN PITCHES HIGHER GAS TAX
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected the demand for their testimony and called it “a witch hunt” of a legitimate Justice Department leak investigation that took place before Barr even arrived at the Justice Department.
Barr suggested last week he was not involved in a secret inquiry of 12 individuals who worked for the House Intelligence Committee and that he never sought the records of Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and panel member Eric Swalwell. Phone records belonging to the two California Democrats ended up in the data sweep.
The investigation took place in 2017 and 2018. Justice Department officials secretly subpoenaed phone records of a dozen individuals as they sought to determine who was leaking sensitive national security information.
The Justice Department’s inspector general is investigating the matter. But Democrats say those behind the secret investigation of the legislative branch must also answer to Congress.
“Under the Constitution, Congress is a coequal branch of government and must be protected from an overreaching executive branch,” Schumer said. “We expect our Republican colleagues to join us in getting to the bottom of this very, very serious matter.”
But McConnell dismissed Schumer’s demand that Barr and Sessions testify.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Kentucky Republican said the Justice Department was conducting a legitimate investigation and argued Democrats ignored abuses by their own party when the Obama administration secretly investigated Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“Any outrage from Democrats that alleged criminal leaks within their own ranks rightly drew the attention of federal investigators rings, completely hollow,” McConnell said.
