House Republicans on a new panel focusing on the “weaponization” of the federal government alleged Thursday that the Justice Department and other agencies have made a priority of singling out and suppressing conservatives.
(Bloomberg) — House Republicans on a new panel focusing on the “weaponization” of the federal government alleged Thursday that the Justice Department and other agencies have made a priority of singling out and suppressing conservatives.
Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who also leads the select subcommittee, asserted “dozens and dozens” of whistleblowers, who are former FBI agents, have come forward.
He said they are particularly concerned about activities of the Justice and Homeland Security Departments, the FBI and other intelligence agencies, some of which, he alleged, reflect a partisan “double-standard” in choices of investigations or releases of information.
Jordan and other Republicans said the federal government also has worked in tandem with the media and technology giants to suppress conservative speech and hide information.
Their issues were wide ranging. One topic of focus was a 2021 memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland on how the Justice Department would handle threats against school officials. Republicans argued this amounted to attempts to silence parents.
Jordan last week sent out subpoenas tied to the long-running claims that Garland and the Justice Department, as well as other agencies, targeted parents unfairly for alleged intimidation of school officials amid coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Those subpoenas require Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to submit documents by March 1, a bulk of which the administration has refused previously to turn over voluntarily. Many relate to communications among Justice, FBI and Education officials, and outside advocates.
During the hearing, Jordan said he expects the panel ultimately will hear from government officials, the media, FBI agents and others. He said the goal was to propose legislation “that will help protect the American people.”
But the Thursday hearing led chiefly to recycling of old conservative complaints touching on the investigation regarding allegations of collusion between Russians and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign; the handing by the FBI of the so-called Steele Dossier in that investigation; Hunter Biden’s laptop; and the actions of federal health officials during the pandemic.
Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands, the panel’s top Democrat, said she’s concerned the select panel has been created to “settle scores” and showcase conspiracy theories, including unproven claims of a “deep-state cabal.”
Plaskett said she is even more concerned about the notion the subcommittee might attempt to interfere with “active criminal investigations,” including those involving Trump.
Establishing the panel under the Judiciary Committee was one of the demands from conservatives for their votes to elect Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. In his first speech as speaker, McCarthy promised to use “the power of the purse and the power of subpoena” to hold government agencies accountable.
The White House views the effort differently.
Even before the hearing started Thursday afternoon, the White House circulated a memo likening the new subcommittee to sensational congressional investigations of the 1940s and 1950s, as fears of Communism and suspicions that its adherents had infiltrated the government and the entertainment industry ran rampant.
“Today, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is launching the Fox News reboot of the House Un-American Activities Committee with a political stunt that weaponizes Congress to carry out the priorities of extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said in the memo obtained by Bloomberg, earlier Thursday.
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