The feds aren’t taking kindly to the thought that they might finally be held accountable by the American people’s elected representatives.
The Biden Department of Justice this week struck back at House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) over the committee’s subpoenas of Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray last week, calling the move “premature.”
As The New American previously reported, the subpoena of Wray compels the FBI chief to turn over to the panel documents and correspondences that have to do with the bureau’s use of federal counterterrorism resources to target conservative parents at school board meetings across the country. Jordan likewise subpoenaed Garland and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona for the same reason.
Per the subpoena, Wray has until 9 a.m. EST on March 1 to comply.
But as Fox News reports, the DOJ is balking at the “premature” subpoena, claiming the department has thus far been cooperative with the Judiciary Committee.
“We remain ready to discuss next steps for the Department to address your informational needs while also respecting Executive Branch interests,” wrote Carlos Felipe Uriarte, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legislative Affairs, in a letter to Jordan. The letter continued:
We have offered to engage with the Committee and provide information voluntarily, so a subpoena is premature.
The overwhelming majority of congressional requests for information are resolved through voluntary discussion and cooperation. This process of accommodation is also constitutionally mandated. Both Congress and the Executive Branch are required to negotiate in good faith to meet the informational needs of Congress while protecting the institutional interests of the Executive Branch….
We are committed to working in good faith to respond to your requests and remain ready to discuss your informational needs and priorities for review and production of pertinent documents.
The FBI also reacted to the subpoena, articulating cooperation with the congressional committee while denying wrongdoing. A spokesperson previously told Fox:
As Director Wray and other FBI officials have stated clearly on numerous occasions before Congress and elsewhere, the FBI has never been in the business of investigating speech or policing speech at school board meetings or anywhere else, and we never will be.
“Our focus is and always will be on protecting people from violence and threats of violence. We are fully committed to preserving and protecting First Amendment rights including the right to free speech,” the bureau further asserted.
Nevertheless, the committee maintained that it will not relent from its demands. Jordan’s office, in a statement to Fox, called the Justice Department’s response “wholly inadequate,” arguing that it “ignores the last two years of requests from our Committee.”
“We expect full compliance with the subpoenas,” said Jordan spokesman Russell Dye.
Since 2021, Jordan and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have been examining information from whistleblowers that the Biden administration “colluded with the National School Boards Association to manufacture a pretext for the use of federal law enforcement authorities against parents.” Now that the GOP controls the House, Jordan and his colleagues can pursue the investigation with the added advantage of subpoena power.
Also last week, Jordan began an investigation into a former FBI special agent who had led the bureau’s New York counterintelligence arm and who was recently indicted on charges relating to “collusion” with a Russian oligarch.
In a letter to Wray, Jordan and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) asserted that the Judiciary Committee is “continuing to investigate allegations of politicization and bias,” declaring that the indictment of the former agent, Charles McGonigal, serves as a reminder “yet again about the seemingly pervasive problems within the FBI.”
McGonigal is accused of violating U.S. sanctions for allegedly taking money from, working for, and laundering money for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has ties to Vladimir Putin. He was indicted on nine counts, among them one for allegedly falsifying records and documents. If convicted, the maximum sentence for the crime is 20 years in prison.
Also among the nine counts is a charge for making false statements. Not only does McGonigal face prison time, but potential financial penalties as well.
Jordan and Gaetz also pointed out that Deripaska worked with Christopher Steele — who authored the infamous and discredited dossier that was used to secure FISA warrants against former Trump aide Carter Page. This led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to determine whether the Trump team was guilty of colluding with Russia.
As Jordan has started these probes into the Biden DOJ, he has become the target of a George Soros-tied Democratic dark money group known as the Congressional Integrity Project, which is conducting opposition research into and purchasing attack ads against Jordan and Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Comer, notably, is investigating the Biden family’s business activities, including Hunter Biden’s dealings in China.
The fact that the Deep State is launching attacks against Jordan and Comer simply shows that the congressmen are getting too close for the corrupt administration’s comfort.
