House Republicans have vowed to use their majority power to hold the Department of Justice (DOJ) accountable for former President Donald Trump’s indictment.
But the DOJ has been fighting back.
Republicans will face a difficulty in the coming months, as seen by the most recent message from DOJ to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which was sent on Friday and acquired by Breitbart News.
After the chairman claimed he need specific documents to conduct congressional oversight, the department pointed Jordan to special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment and other open court papers, citing its “duty to safeguard the integrity” of its work.
The department stated that by preventing the appearance of political pressure, “protecting the confidentiality of non-public information regarding investigations and prosecutions preserves the American people’s confidence in the evenhanded administration of justice.”
Republican oversight of the “double standard” the indictment provided, according to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, notwithstanding the DOJ’s previous obstacle.
The speaker also mentioned that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton had confidential materials on her personal email server and that former senator and vice president Joe Biden kept documents with classified markings in both his home and office.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) revealed in a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday that one of the prosecutors on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team looking into Trump for allegedly handling classified documents had previously given to President Biden’s 2020 campaign and had been accused of misconduct in 2009.
Gaetz requests that the identities of everyone involved in the matter in Smith’s office be made public.
In his letter, the congressman alleged that Smith’s prior work “is both highly irregular and of extraordinary public concern,” particularly “how his office is structured,” and he gave Garland until July 7 to produce “all staff rosters, phone lists, or similar records, within the custody or control of the Department of Justice, depicting all employees hired by or detailed to the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith.”
Gaetz cited the resignation of Karen Gilbert, one of the listed Smith’s deputies, from her post as the head of the narcotics division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in 2009 due to allegations of wrongdoing. The DOJ later apologised for the incident.
Additionally, according to Federal Election Commission records, Gilbert contributed more than $2,000 to the presidential campaigns of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Gaetz threatened to use congressional authority to cut off funding for Smith’s office in his letter.