The House passed a resolution Thursday demanding the Department of Justice quickly turn over sensitive documents lawmakers have been demanding for months related to the FBI’s handling of the Trump-Russia and Hillary Clinton email investigations.
Republican Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows pushed the resolution. Jordan grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the documents in a hearing Thursday, as members voted to pass the resolution on the House floor.
“Mr. Rosenstein, why are you keeping information from Congress?” Jordan asked in a particularly heated exchange, dismissing the attorney’s denials the DOJ is hiding anything to assert the House vote would dispute that notion. “I think in a few minutes the House of Representatives is going to go on record saying you haven’t complied with requests from a separate and equal branch of government, that you haven’t complied with subpoenas, and you got seven days to get your act together.”
The resolution demands the DOJ turn over thousands of documents by July 6, including documents related to the secret surveillance of Trump associate Carter Page and text messages between FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on the Judiciary are investigating potential abuse in the FBI’s handling of both the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia and its investigation into the Clinton email server.
Republicans have threatened to hold Rosenstein in contempt and go as far as to impeach him if the DOJ does not comply with their requests. The vote to pass the resolution was split cleanly along party lines, 226-183.
Seventeen representatives did not vote, including Republicans Diane Black, Ryan Costello, Glenn Grothman, Walter Jones, Raul Labrador and Blaine Luetkemeyer. Republican Rep. Justin Amash voted “present.”
