House Republicans question FBI on Russia investigation
WASHINGTON — Republicans accused top federal law enforcement officials Thursday of withholding important documents from them and demanded details about surveillance tactics during the Russia investigation in a contentious congressional hearing that capped days of mounting partisan complaints.
In a vote that underscored their frustration, Republicans briefly put the hearing on hold so they could approve a resolution on the House floor demanding the Justice Department turn over thousands of documents by next week.
The House Judiciary Committee hearing marked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s first appearance before Congress since an internal Justice Department report criticizing the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation revealed new disparaging text messages among FBI officials about President Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
Republicans on the panel seized on the watchdog report to allege bias by the FBI and to discredit an investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign led by special counsel Robert Mueller. They suggested the Justice Department conspired against Trump by refusing to produce documents they believe would show improper conduct by the FBI.
“This country is being hurt by it. We are being divided,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, said of Mueller’s investigation.
“Whatever you got,” he added, “finish it the hell up because this country is being torn apart.”
Rosenstein, at times raising his voice and pointing his finger, strongly defended himself and the department during the hours-long hearing, saying he was doing his best to balance congressional oversight with the need to preserve the integrity of ongoing investigations. He said despite Republican allegations to the contrary, he was “not trying to hide anything.”
“We are not in contempt of this Congress and we are not going to be in contempt of this Congress,” he said.
The hearing came amid ongoing Republican attacks on the Justice Department and allegations of FBI bias against Trump. On Wednesday, lawmakers spent hours behind closed doors grilling Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who worked on both the Clinton and Russia investigations and traded anti-Trump text messages with an FBI lawyer. The inspector general criticized the officials for creating an appearance of impropriety but did not find evidence bias had tainted the decisions of prosecutors in the Clinton investigation.
The resolution that passed along party lines Thursday demanded the department turn over by July 6 documents on FBI investigations into Clinton’s private email use and Trump campaign ties to Russia. Both investigations unfolded during the presidential election, causing the FBI — which prides itself on independence — to become entangled in presidential politics in ways that are continuing to shake out.
Republican Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, one of the strongest GOP critics of the Republicanled Justice Department, and Jim Jordan of Ohio were behind the nonbinding resolution. Meadows did not deny Democratic assertions that the document requests were related to efforts to undercut Mueller’s probe.