The Justice Department has missed the Thursday deadline to give the House Judiciary Committee nearly 1.2 million documents related to FBI investigations surrounding the 2016 election, despite a subpoena, a congressman has confirmed.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, and Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican, subpoenaed the Justice Department two weeks. The subpoena requested documents related to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, possible abuses in obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant for Trump campaign aide Carter Page and a recommendation by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
As of Thursday night, the documents still have not been turned over, frustrating some Republicans. The deadline to hand over the documents was Thursday at noon.
“We got no documents from the Department of Justice,” tweeted Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, and a member of the Oversight Committee. “Just a phone call. This is unacceptable — it’s time to stop the games. Turn over the documents to Congress and allow us to conduct oversight.”
Mr. Goodlatte had asked for the documents in November and issued a subpoena last month because of what he called a slow response by the Justice Department. He said in a March 18 interview on Fox News that he and other House members “are very concerned about the slow nature of those documents being produced.”
Only about 3,000 of the 1.2 million documents are said to have been turned over.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment when contacted Friday morning.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd last month sent Mr. Goodlatte a letter. Mr. Boyd said the Justice Department is cooperating, but the sheer volume of documents and number of redactions have slowed down production.
President Trump also accused the Justice Department of stalling in a Monday tweet.
“So sad that the Department of ’Justice’ and the FBI are slow walking, or even not giving, the unredacted documented requested by Congress,” the president tweeted. “An embarrassment to our country!”
The president’s tweets came just days after FBI Director Christoper Wray announced last week that the bureau would double the number of personnel working on the Judiciary Committee’s request.
Mr. Wray said in a statement the bureau will comply with the subpoena but needed more time to produce the documents. To expedite the process, Mr. Wray ordered 54 staffers to work in two shifts from 8 a.m. to midnight.
“I agree the current pace of production is too slow,” Mr. Wray said in a statement.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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