The new subcommittee of the House dedicated to probing the so-called weapons of the federal government will hold its first hearing on Thursday.
The afternoon program will feature Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, as well as testimony from former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent and appears frequently on Fox News.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who served as a manager in former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial and on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, is the only Democratic member invited to speak as a witness on Thursday .
The Select Subcommittee on Armaments of the Federal Government, chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was created by the new Republican House majority to investigate alleged discrimination by the federal government against conservatives. The panel is part of the House Judiciary Committee, which is also chaired by Jordan, and has subpoena power.
The subcommittee is formally tasked with examining how the executive branch collects information on US citizens and conducts investigations “including ongoing criminal investigations”. Republicans say they will investigate how the Justice Department, FBI and other law enforcement agencies have investigated conservatives, including former President Donald Trump. The panel also offers a look at the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago home in August.
In a statement Thursday, White House counsel’s office spokesman Ian Sams called the panel “a Fox News reboot of the House Un-American Activities Committee, a political stunt designed to serve the preferences of extreme mega-Republicans in Congress.” weaponises”. Morning.
“These extreme mega-Republicans in Congress are preferring to make it their top priority to go down the rabbit hole of controversial conspiracy theories about the ‘deep state,’ rather than decide to take a deep breath and work with the President and Democrats in Congress.” The everyday lives of Americans,” he said.
In addition to Jordan, the panel’s 21 members include some high-profile GOP critics of President Joe Biden’s administration, such as Reps. Thomas Massey of Kentucky, Elise Stefanik of New York and Matt Gaetz of Florida, who were quietly added to the committee last week. ,
Democrats appointed nine members to serve on the panel, including the committee’s vice chair, Dale Stacy Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, who also served as the Trump impeachment manager.
The committee will hear from a second panel of witnesses on Thursday, including two former FBI agents, Thomas Baker and Nicole Parker, who have been critical of the bureau in recent years; George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor who has also criticized the FBI and alleged social media censorship by conservatives; and Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst and former deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department during the Obama administration.
Before the first subcommittee hearing, the Justice Department also rolled back some of Jordan’s demands from the Judiciary Committee, asking for more time. On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Carlos Uriarte wrote a letter to Jordan saying the agency did not have enough time to comply with the committee’s request and hoped to work closely with officials.
“The Department responded on January 20, 2023, offering to meet with the Committee to discuss your requests and identify how to best meet the Committee’s needs. You have not yet responded to our offer,” Uriarte wrote in the letter obtained by NBC News.
On February 3, Jordan subpoenaed Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and sought extensive information related to the Justice Department’s effort regarding heated school board meetings across the country. The subpoenas came after Jordan and his committee sent more than 100 other letters to various Biden administration officials as part of their investigation.
According to Uriarte, the Judiciary Committee has not taken him up on his offer to hold staff-level discussions on his requests.
“We have offered to engage with the committee and provide information voluntarily, so a subpoena is premature,” he wrote.
Russell Dye, a spokesman for Jordan, called the Justice Department’s response “grossly inadequate” and “flawed” and said it “ignores the last two years of requests from our committee.”
“We expect full compliance of the summons,” he added.
The subcommittee is required to submit a final report on its findings to the House by January 2, 2025.