The House plans to vote Thursday on a new resolution from a House Republican who has been pressing the Justice Department for a pile of documents for months — a sign that the back-and-forth between the agency and Trump-allied lawmakers is heating back up.
The House Rules Committee met Wednesday afternoon and passed the resolution by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., by a vote of 8-4, setting up a full floor vote for when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will simultaneously be on Capitol Hill for a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
The text of the Meadows resolution, which is unenforceable, replaces a similar resolution that passed by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Meadows told reporters Wednesday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should be impeached if the records are not turned over by the new resolution’s deadline early next month.
[DOJ ‘blatantly’ failed to comply with Devin Nunes’ docs request, Mark Meadows says]
“If all the documents are not complied by July 6 […] then certainly contempt and impeachment would be in order,” the Meadows said.
The resolution insists the Justice Department “fully comply” with subpoenas from the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees — which includes documents pertaining to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act program and the FBI’s use of a confidential informant on the Trump campaign.
Meadows said House Speaker Paul Ryan has “indicated” a vote on the resolution will come Thursday.
However, a spokeswoman for Speaker Ryan declined Wednesday to say whether that would happen.
Ryan on Tuesday insisted that the Justice Department would comply with the requests “very, very soon.”
Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing is supposed to be on the Justice Department’s Inspector General report on the FBI’s investigations during the 2016 election — but it is highly likely questions will stray to documents requests.
FBI Director Christopher Wray will also be at the committee hearing.
Democratic lawmakers have said the demands are an attempt to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and possible links with the Trump campaign. Mueller was appointed in May 2017 and the only Justice Department official who can remove him is Rosenstein.
Though the resolution is unenforceable, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said it is meant to put the full House on record for demanding compliance from the Justice Department
GOP lawmakers “are sick and tired of the Department of Justice giving us the runaround,” Jordan said Tuesday. “What I want is the full weight of the House behind this resolution saying ‘Give us what we’re entitled to have.'”
