Three Republican lawmakers have asked President Trump to intervene to force Attorney General Jeff Sessions to hand over documents they’ve requested that relate to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“We write to request that you exercise your authority as president of the United States to instruct Attorney General Jeff Sessions to immediately produce all documents requested by Congress relating to our investigation of certain prosecutorial and investigative decisions made by the Department of Justice and FBI in 2016 and 2017,” Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Ron DeSantis of Florida asked Trump in a letter that was sent Tuesday and made public Wednesday.
The three Republicans want to see documents “related to potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; documents related to the FBI and broader Department of Justice’s initial investigation into the Trump campaign prior to the appointment of the Special Counsel” and the unredacted version of an August 2017 memo signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein detailing the full jurisdiction of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Justice Department and FBI officials have accommodated similar requests recently that have been made by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
Last month, Nunes and all members of the House Intelligence Committee were able to see a redacted document that details the origin of the federal government’s investigation into the Trump campaign and possible collusion with Russia.
That came after Nunes suggested he might impeach top Justice Department or FBI officials for not letting him see the document — though he later thanked Rosenstein for accommodating his request.
Last week, Nunes and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy met with Justice Department officials amid another standoff over documents relating to the investigation into Russian meddling by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The Justice Department and FBI are also already working on a large request by the House Judiciary Committee. FBI Director Christopher Wray announced in March that the FBI was doubling the number of staff handling the request from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte.
Sessions in April picked John Lausch, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to supervise the Justice Department’s gathering and handing over of records to the committee. That request pertains to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and alleged FISA abuses.
A Republican House Judiciary Committee aide told the Washington Examiner in April that the panel was working with the Justice Department to take “immediate steps to comply with the subpoena and produce documents to the Committee.”
Democratic lawmakers have said demanding such troves of information not only threatens ongoing federal investigations, but gives Trump an excuse to fire Sessions or Rosenstein. In that case, Trump could squeeze Mueller and his Russia investigation, which is overseen by Rosenstein.
The president has repeatedly expressed frustration with the handing over of documents by the Justice Department and FBI, but the White House has also said there are no plans to fire Rosenstein.
“A Rigged System – They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress,” the president tweeted earlier this month. “What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal ‘justice?’”
Trump added: “At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!”
