House Republicans Prepare For War With FBI, DOJ Over Anti-Trump Investigation Bias
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Dec 3, 2017
Five weeks ago, House Speaker Paul Ryan accused the DOJ and FBI of “stonewalling” the House Intelligence Committee’s wide-ranging subpoena for all pertinent information about how the largely unsubstantiated “Trump dossier” played into the DOJ’s decision to launch the infamous Trump collusion investigation. At the time, the speaker said the agency was preparing to turn over the information requested, though it never did. Only yesterday, following a series of coordinated media leaks about Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who was reassigned from the Mueller probe to a job in the FBI’s HR Department under mysterious circumstances.
Well, thanks to the New York Times and the Washington Post, Nunes learned – at the same time as the broader public – the reasons for Strzok’s sudden reassignment: Namely, that the Mueller team member who had played a critical role in the DOJ’s original collusion investigation – and before that the FBI’s probe into Hillary Clinton’s mishandling of classified information – had exchange text messages expressing anti-Trump sentiments with FBI attorney Lisa Page while the two were having an affair.
Well, the Intel committee chairman was understandably less than pleased at this very public embarassment. Therefore, he announced in a statement issued Sunday that he would be preparing to hold the DOJ in contempt of Congress, a serious escalation.
Strzok was reassigned in July. Nunes signed the Intel committee’s subpoena the following month, then proceeded to engage in a mix of prodding, threats and cajolery to convince the bureau to turn over the documents, which it repeatedly refused to do.
Here’s a timeline of events courtesy of the Washington Examiner:
On Oct. 11, Nunes met with deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. In that meeting, Nunes specifically discussed the committee’s request for information about Strzok.
In an Oct. 31 committee staff meeting with the FBI, bureau officials refused a request for information about Strzok.
On Nov. 20, the committee again requested an interview with Strzok. (Three days earlier, on November 17, Strzok met with the Senate Intelligence Committee.)
On Nov. 29, Nunes again spoke to Rosenstein, and again discussed Strzok.
On Dec. 1, the committee again requested to speak with Strzok.
Shortly after the Strzok news broke, the DOJ suddenly notified Nunes that it was ready to comply with the subpoena, but an infuriated Nunes isn’t willing to let the agency off the hook that easily.
To wit, in a statement published Sunday, the Intel committee chairman said he was preparing to file an order of Congressional contempt against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray for stonewalling the committee’s investigation.
The Rest…HERE
