Biden Justice Department Refuses to Cooperate with House Judiciary and Senate Intelligence Committees
© Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Attorney General Merrick Garland refuses to answer questions after speaking about the FBI's search warrant served at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate during a statement at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., August 11, 2022.
Senator Marco Rubio called the Department of Justice’s continued refusal to cooperate with Congress and share information about the classified documents the agency obtained following investigations into Donald Trump and Joe Biden “ridiculous.”
“It’s a silly letter, it’s a ridiculous letter–it doesn’t even answer the question we asked,” Rubio told Sean Hannity on Monday night in response to a Justice Department letter.
Rubio noted that the classified documents in question belong to “the intelligence agencies that authored them,” and not the FBI or Justice Department.
The Department of Justice dismissed House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan’s appeal to have the classified documents shared with the committee on Monday by citing ongoing concerns that it may undermine an active investigation.
“Your letter…requests non-public information that is central to the ongoing Special Counsel investigation. The Department’s longstanding policy is to maintain the confidentiality of such information regarding open matters,” the Department of Justice wrote in a letter responding to Jordan’s request.
The Justice Department added that such disclosures to Congress “risk jeopardizing those investigations and creating the appearance that Congress may be exerting improper political pressure or attempting to influence Department decisions in certain cases,” letter obtained by The Hill argues.
The response prompted Russell Dye, a spokesman for Jordan, to condemn the obstinacy of the Department of Justice.
“Our Members are rightly concerned about the Justice Department’s double standard here,” Dye said in a statement. “It’s concerning, to say the least, that the Department is more interested in playing politics than cooperating.”
The growing antagonism between the Republican-controlled House and the Department of Justice was on display earlier in January, when the latter signaled it would not share any information concerning an ongoing criminal investigation.
“[A]ny oversight requests must be weighed against the department’s interests in protecting the integrity of its work,” adding, “The Department’s mission to independently and impartially uphold the rule of law requires us to maintain the integrity of our investigations.”
Jordan condemned the move, insisting that the “Administration’s stonewalling must stop.”
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