The House Judiciary Committee will reportedly subpoena the Justice Department for documents on how the FBI handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation, perhaps doing so as early as Wednesday.
The Hill reported Tuesday, citing “multiple sources” that the Judiciary panel under Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, expects to issue the summons Wednesday or Thursday, although one source told the publication the timeline was still uncertain.
Regardless, the Hill reported citing a spokesperson, Mr. Goodlatte told Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the panel’s ranking Democrat, on Monday that a subpoena is coming. Committee rules give the minority party a right to two days notice before any subpoenas are issued on the panel’s behalf.
Mr. Goodlatte and Rep. Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican and House Oversight Committee chairman, have been leading a joint probe of whether political influence affected how the FBI handled the Obama-era investigation of Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server, handling of classified information, and truthfulness on these matters.
President Trump and conservatives have long maintained that the FBI, either out of “deep state” sympathies or from being leaned on by President Obama’s political appointees, essentially covered up for Mrs. Clinton.
The FBI’s conduct is also the subject of a Justice Department inspector-general probe, but that has also been called too slow and toothless, though it reportedly led to FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s firing last week.
Mr. Goodlatte has made the same criticism of Justice’s responsiveness to his probe, saying the department has slow-walked his requests for information, a point he made at the weekend in signaling why a subpoena might be needed.
“We need to have those documents,” he said on Fox News on Sunday. “We’ve had communications with the Department of Justice about this and they know that not just myself and Chairman Gowdy, but many other members of the House are very concerned about the slow nature of those documents being produced. And as I say, actions are going to have to take a new level here very soon.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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