Trump-aligned House lawmakers and top Justice Department officials will meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss production of a cadre of documents that have been requested and subpoenaed over the last few months.
A House Judiciary Committee aide told the Washington Examiner that Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.; House Freedom Caucus leaders Mark Meadows, R-N.C.; and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; will be in attendance at the Capitol Hill meeting.
A Justice Department official said top department and FBI officials will be there, but Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will not be there.
Rosenstein appeared before the House Judiciary Committee last month, defending the Justice Department against accusations it was purposely withholding documents.
Rosenstein told lawmakers at the time that the Justice Department has been making “unprecedented disclosures” to Congress and praised U.S. Attorney John Lausch for his work overseeing the process.
“I understand some people still state concerns about the speed of the production, but those concerns are mistaken,” Rosenstein said. “Most requests have been fulfilled and other document productions are in progress for this committee and other committees.”
Staff from House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office will be at the meeting, and it is not immediately clear if any Democrats were invited or plan to attend.
Earlier this month, Ryan, who often steers clear of disputes with the Justice Department, told reporters that the department is “now coming into compliance” with congressional subpoenas.
Meadows has been publicly mulling introducing a resolution to hold Rosenstein in contempt of Congress over the documents that have been requested. Those documents are wide-ranging and cover the Justice Department and FBI’s investigations into Hillary Clinton and possible collusion between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Ryan has not agreed to bring such a resolution to the full House floor for a vote, however he did allow a non-binding resolution to compel the Justice Department turn over documents to be voted on fully last month, which did pass.
