House Republicans are accusing the Department of Justice of being uncooperative after the agency did not give the Judiciary Committee a “yes” or “no” answer in response to requests for evidence and documents.
The Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), asked why the DOJ is “scared to cooperate” with its investigations, including those into the potential politicization of the agency. Jordan has sent multiple requests for information, but the DOJ signaled in a letter Friday that it may not provide the committee with the information pending an internal review.
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Why’s DOJ scared to cooperate with our investigations?
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) January 20, 2023
“Legislative and Executive Branches have a constitutional obligation to negotiate in good faith to meet the informational needs of Congress while protecting the institutional interests of the Executive Branch,” the DOJ’s letter said. “We look forward to beginning this process in response to your January 17 letters. We believe that good-faith negotiations will enable us to meet the Committee’s needs while protecting the Department’s institutional interests.”
The correspondence, addressed to Jordan, reminded him that “consistent with longstanding policy and practice, any oversight requests must be weighed against the Department’s interests in protecting the integrity of its work” and that “longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations.”
The Jan. 17 letters from Jordan to the DOJ warned top officials that this would be the “final time” he would repeat his requests before resorting to subpoenas after sending four previous letters last fall. The DOJ responded to the fifth request since House Republicans have majority power on committees in the new Congress.
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Jordan is expected to lead the subcommittee on government “weaponization,” which will scrutinize the politics of the Justice Department, FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security. These letters indicate the possible scope of the Church-style committee into the alleged politicization of the agencies.
He’s also going after President Joe Biden for apparently mishandling classified documents from his time as vice president under President Barack Obama. Biden and the Republicans have gone back and forth with allegations of hypocrisy since former President Donald Trump is also under investigation for keeping classified documents.
