Key Republicans warn Christopher Wray, Rod Rosenstein in danger of contempt of Congress, impeachment

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters Tuesday evening that some lawmakers are “seriously considering” contempt of Congress.

Meadows has repeatedly griped about the Justice Department’s failure to fully comply with a subpoena and hand over 1.2 million documents related to three investigations looking into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server, potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe last month.

The Justice Department has picked a U.S. attorney in Chicago as the official to oversee the production of troves of documents to Republican lawmakers — something President Trump has pressured the agency to do immediately. The move comes less than two weeks after the FBI revealed it was doubling the number of staff handling the request from House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.

Meanwhile, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has railed against the Justice Department for so far defying his demands for them to produce an unredacted version of the two-page document used to formally begin the federal investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump campaign.

During an interview Tuesday evening on Fox News, Nunes said not only are FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in danger of contempt of Congress, but they’re also in danger of impeachment.

“We are not messing around,” he said.

Nunes met with members of the House Judiciary Oversight Committees as well as the House Freedom Caucus to discuss Rosenstein and Wray, according to the Washington Post’s Robert Costa.

Meadows previously floated the idea of impeachment for Rosenstein over the weekend. It is so far unclear if House Republican leadership would support such a move.

Nunes sent a letter last week to Rosenstein and Wray demanding an uncensored copy of the document, which has been the subject of much controversy. After some Republicans alleged that the FBI used never-verified parts of the “Trump dossier” as part of its reason to begin the investigation in July 2016, some “current and former” officials leaked to the New York Times that it was instead the case of George Papadopoulos, reported to U.S. authorities by foreign intelligence agents, that prompted the FBI investigation.

Part of the need to see that two-page electronic communication, Nunes explained Sunday, is for Congress to be able to “verify” if what was leaked to the Times was true and to see if there is still anything else to the story that hasn’t come to light yet. The Justice Department rebuffed Nunes’ request in a letter Friday. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd said his agency has sought to act in a “manner consistent with relevant legal precedents.”

But Boyd did offer an olive branch of sorts, saying the DOJ and FBI will make an “extraordinary accommodation” to the House Intelligence Committee by allowing all of its members access to review Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications and renewals. That offer is also being extended to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Nunes said Sunday that this was a “nice” gesture, and further explained on Tuesday that designees from his committee, including Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., had viewed the two-page document, but it was covered in redactions.

Technically there is still time for the DOJ and FBI to adhere to Nunes’ demands, since he set a deadline of April 11.

This week Rosenstein approved an FBI raid of the home and office of President Trump’s personal attorney on Monday. That evoked the ire of the president, who according to a CNN report Tuesday, is now considering firing Rosenstein himself.

Meadows said there were a “number of reasons” to remove Rosenstein, but did not provide additional details. “It’s too early to put forth a case on that,” he said Tuesday.

[Related: James Comey’s first interview after being fired will ‘shock the president and his team’: Report]

Some among the Republican rank-and-file are wary of Trump potentially trying to fire not only Rosenstein, but also Attorney General Jeff Sessions and special counsel Robert Mueller, as it would gin up concerns about Trump impeding the Russia investigation, which is examining whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., on Tuesday called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to call up his bill to protect Mueller amid new fears that President Trump might fire him.