Justice to share some data with House committee
WASHINGTON — The House Intelligence Committee chairman said Wednesday that the Justice Department had agreed to begin honoring a subpoena for intelligence materials related to the special counsel’s investigation.
The department could begin handing over counterintelligence and foreign intelligence related documents as soon as this week, the chairman, California Rep. Adam Schiff, DGlendale, said Wednesday. The action prompted him to cancel a committee meeting scheduled for later in the day at which Democrats had planned to vote on an unspecified “enforcement action” to increase pressure on the department.
Schiff ’s subpoena is broad, encompassing Robert Mueller’s full report, its underlying evidence and the intelligencerelated materials his investigation produced. But in an effort to find an initial compromise, Schiff said he would accept documents in 12 narrower categories, though he has not specified publicly what they are.
Speaking with reporters a short time later, he said the initial compliance “does not obviate the need for the subpoena.” He added: “We will keep that in force until we get all the documents we are seeking.”
The department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, said the agency looked forward to “appropriately accommodating” the committee’s requests.
The détente — however long it lasts — stands in sharp contrast to relations between the Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee, where tensions over a similar subpoena for Mueller’s full report and evidence quickly escalated. Unable to reach an accommodation, the Judiciary Committee moved this month to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress and President Trump invoked executive privilege, walling off the materials they wanted for an investigation into obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
The Intelligence Committee appears to be getting material that was not subject to the privilege claim. As one of two congressional bodies charged with overseeing U.S. intelligence agencies, it has strong legal claims on such counterintelligence and intelligence information, and in this case, the Democrats requesting the material had the support of Republicans on the committee.
It is unclear if the department will reconsider Trump’s privilege claim going forward. Democrats plan to challenge it in court.
The Justice department said it was also willing to allow all members of the Intelligence Committee to view a limited redacted version of the first volume of Mueller’s report. It had previously allowed only a handful of lawmakers in both the House and Senate to see those materials.