President Trump believes Congress should secure the release of classified information regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation from the Justice Department, according to Trump’s laywer, Rudy Giuliani.
Earlier this month, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., subpoenaed the Justice Department after the agency did not respond to a classified letter he sent late last month regarding Mueller’s inquiry. 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 — withheld the documents and told Nunes in a follow-up letter that turning over the requested information would be a risk to national security.
However, Giualini suggested there might soon be a change, according to an interview with the Washington Post published Thursday evening.
“It’s ridiculous,” Giuliani said. “You guys in the press should have them. I don’t know why the current attorney general and the current director of the FBI want to protect a bunch of renegades that might amount to 20 people at most within the FBI.”
[Also read: Devin Nunes: ‘It’s crazy’ the DOJ has defied demand for document on origin of Trump-Russia probe]
So far, instead of obtaining the information he seeks, Nunes, along with Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., received a classified briefing, which they characterized as being “productive” and came with the promise of follow-up meetings. “What we’re trying to figure out are what methods the FBI and DOJ used to investigate and open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign,” Nunes said, according to the Post.
Previously Nunes threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt of Congress over the Justice Department pushback on requests for information related to the Russia investigation. In speaking with Sinclair Broadcasting Group on Thursday, Nunes painted a target on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s operation since Sessions recused himself, saying he should be the one held in contempt of Congress.
Several conservatives have clamored about possible troubling behavior at the Justice Department, and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, has conveyed these misgivings to Trump on multiple occasions with Trump over the phone, the Post reported.
The report said that those standing in the way of Meadows and his allies in this endeavor — a group which includes former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon — have clashed with White House chief of staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn about pushing the Justice Department on document disclosures.
The effort by conservative media figures and lawmakers culminated in a Trump tweet Thursday morning, in which he reacted to reports that a government informant met with members of his presidential campaign and predicted there would be a scandal “bigger than Watergate!”
The president also reiterated his distaste for the Russia investigation, on the one-year anniversary of Mueller’s appointment as special counsel, calling it a “disgusting, illegal and unwarranted Witch Hunt.”
[Also read: Trump criticizes $10 million investigation budget for Russia probe]
