House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) rebuked the Department of Justice and the FBI on Friday, citing the lack of transparency from both over the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
The California representative accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of claiming the Justice Department “cannot provide transparency” while at the same time letting select information on the Mar-a-Lago investigation leak to the press. In response, McCarthy has asked Garland to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and provide more information on the raid that Garland said he would give “at the appropriate time,” which the minority leader claims is now, according to a letter sent to the attorney general.
“The unprecedented nature of the FBI’s search of President Trump’s home and the broad public interest surrounding the raid require more than just a private briefing with the congressional and intelligence committee leadership,” McCarthy’s letter to Garland read. “The Biden Administration cannot ignore its obligation to submit to public hearings in the House Judiciary Committee, which is charged with broad oversight of the operations and functions of the DOJ and the FBI. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have called on you to testify in public; the Administration’s failure to appear before the Judiciary Committee only willfully illustrates a desire by the DOJ and the FBI to avoid oversight by their committee of primary jurisdiction.”
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McCarthy said the DOJ appears to want to disclose information on the Mar-a-Lago raid only “to a narrow group” of members of Congress and compared the situation to when the Obama administration investigated claims of collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. The Republican said the collusion investigation created “false public narratives” that mislead people and that Congress is now refusing to let the DOJ and the FBI “attempt to repeat history.”
In addition to testimony from Garland, McCarthy also asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and provide “all communications and documents requested by Republicans” regarding the raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence. McCarthy said that people see the FBI and the DOJ as more political groups over the last year and a half and that Garland could start fixing that perception by fulfilling his requests given in the letter.
Other Republicans who signed on to the message include Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Mike Turner (R-OH), and James Comer (R-KY).
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Following the raid on Trump’s Florida home, McCarthy threatened to investigate Garland for approving the raid, and he asserted that if Republicans take back the majority in the House in the midterm elections this fall, they will swiftly launch an investigation.
