In a 221 to 211 vote on Tuesday, the House approved a resolution to create a new special panel to probe a wide range of issues that have become hot topics issues for Republicans in recent years.
The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is expected to look into a series of subjects that the Republican Party has argued show there is a partisan bias in the federal government.
These include the Department of Justice’s criminal investigations into Donald Trump over his actions surrounding the riot at the U.S. Capitol and the classified materials found at his Mar-a-Lago home.
There is also the scope to look into disputed claims the FBI may have worked alongside Facebook and Twitter to keep a New York Post story about the business dealings of then-candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden from appearing in people’s newsfeed in the days running up to the 2020 election.
Other lines the GOP has teased will form part of the subcommittee’s work is another dismissed accusation that Attorney General Merrick Garland called on the FBI to “spy” on parents who spoke out against the teaching of critical race theory and COVID-19 regulations at school board meetings in late 2021 and that the bureau inflated statistics about domestic extremism for political purposes while ignoring acts carried out by far-left Antifa activists.
The special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will be chaired by Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, one of Trump’s most staunch supporters in the House.
The subcommittee will have the power to investigate those deciding whether to charge Trump in still-open criminal investigations, as well as use their newfound subpoena power to seek access to details about such ongoing investigations.
The panel will also be reviewing how executive branch agencies “work with, obtain information from, and provide information to the private sector, non-profit entities, or other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens”—likely to form part of a probe into any apparent FBI interactions with social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook.
Legal experts have raised concerns about the intent of the GOP with the new “weaponization” subcommittee, and their attempts in forcing the DOJ and FBI to hand over any information they have in open investigations to Congress—acts which the agencies have fought against in the past.
“The Republican majority in the House of Representatives would be crossing a red line if they try to obtain information from the DOJ on open investigations,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek.
“The DOJ can’t comment on open investigations or lack thereof. That would be an intrusion on the executive branch and the DOJ’s law enforcement function. So this attempt by Republican members of Congress is more political theater than anything else,” he said.
Rahmani suggested that there could be a number of far-fetched routes the House committee could go down to force the FBI or DOJ to comply with any subpoenas they may issue for information.
These include asking the sergeant at arms of the House to arrest a witness who refuses to testify, file a lengthy civil lawsuit or even take up the case with the DOJ, which would not be productive “if Congress is at war with the DOJ over its ongoing investigations.”
There is also the possibility that the Republican-controlled House may threaten to pass a bill to cut funding to the FBI or DOJ, like what they did with the Internal Revenue Service.
“But it would still need to be approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate and by President Joe Biden, so good luck with that,” Rahmani said.
Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor and former U.S. attorney said that while the House has “every right to engage in meaningful oversight” over any federal agency, pending investigations are “off-limits” under the constitutional separation of powers.
“DOJ and FBI officials have consistently declined to answer questions or provide documents relating to ongoing investigations, and I would expect that to continue in the 118th Congress,” McQuade told Newsweek.
“The executive branch is empowered to conduct criminal investigations and make charging decisions without interference from the legislative branch. Questions should be limited to practices and policies or closed cases.
“One concern I have is that a refusal by DOJ to comply with demands for information about ongoing criminal investigations will result in contempt or impeachment.”
Something that could be on the GOP’s side is that the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s work must be completed by January 2, 2025, by which point all criminal investigations into Trump and his allies may have long concluded one way or another.
Republicans have long accused the FBI and the DOJ of being politicized arms of government that also work to censor conservative voices.
These cries began amid the continuing criminal probe into January 6 and Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and only intensified after the former president’s Florida home was raided in August for classified materials removed from the White House
Speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, Judiciary Ranking Member Jerry Nadler accused Republicans of trying to set up the subcommittee to investigate “whatever conspiracy theories may be headlining the right-wing echo chamber at the moment” and to “settle political scores” on behalf of Trump.
“The select committee can use its expansive authorities to protect Donald Trump, those who perpetrated fake electoral schemes to overturn the 2020 presidential election, insurrectionists facing trials for their crimes and other domestic terrorists,” the Democrat from New York said.
“It aims to undermine the safeguards of our democracy, and to embolden MAGA extremists who would rather see our institutions fail than to see Democrats and President Biden succeed.”
Another issue the Democrats have is who will be part of the panel.
As well as Jordan, who refused to comply with a subpoena issued to him by the House committee investigating January 6, Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, who is being investigated by federal prosecutors for his role in events surrounding the Capitol riot, is also in contention.
No Democrats voted for the creation of the panel, and it is still unclear if any will put themselves forward to work on the panel they accuse of being a mere fishing expedition.
In a statement after the GOP voted to set up the subcommittee, White House spokesman Ian Sams said: “House Republicans continue to focus on launching partisan political stunts driven by the most extreme MAGA members of their caucus instead of joining the President to tackle the issues the American people care about most like inflation.”
