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The Justice Division informed the brand new chair of the Home Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that it "stands prepared" to work with congressional investigators however warned it will not share details about ongoing circumstances, in line with a letter obtained by NBC Information.
Jordan wrote U.S. Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland on Jan. 17 demanding paperwork and testimony referring to a variety of subjects he'd requested about final 12 months when Republicans didn't management the Home. They included data on immigration enforcement on the southern border, investigations into threats in opposition to faculty boards, and a few investigations recognized to be lively, together with the division's legal probe into categorized paperwork recovered from former President Donald Trump's Florida resort final 12 months.
In a letter responding to Jordan's Jan. 17 requests, Assistant Lawyer Normal for Legislative Affairs Carlos Urierte mentioned "we're dedicated to cooperating with the Committee’s professional efforts to hunt data, per our obligation to guard Govt Department confidentiality pursuits."
These confidentiality pursuits embody not divulging data on ongoing investigations, Urierte mentioned.
That may possible embody one other matter Jordan's committee is investigating: the continued DOJ probe of the Obama-era categorized paperwork that have been present in President Joe Biden’s Delaware residence and his former Washington workplace. Jordan despatched Garland a letter demanding data on that investigation final week.
“According to longstanding coverage and observe, any oversight requests should be weighed in opposition to the Division’s pursuits in defending the integrity of its work. Longstanding Division coverage prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or offering personal details about our investigations,” the letter mentioned.
It cites earlier paperwork stating that “the coverage of the Govt Department all through our Nation’s historical past has typically been to say no to offer committees of Congress with entry to, or copies of, open legislation enforcement information besides in extraordinary circumstances.”
The letter additionally requests ample time for officers to arrange for questioning earlier than the committee. It says that the division received’t make lower-level brokers obtainable for interviews or testimony.
“The Division has lengthy insisted that congressional committees ship a written invitation for public testimony at the least two weeks prematurely of the listening to date,” the letter mentioned.
The letter additionally requested that the panel prioritize its prolonged checklist of requests.
"Prioritization is important to an environment friendly lodging course of. It allows the Division to focus its restricted sources on the data most pertinent to the Committee’s inquiries. With out prioritization, requests will take longer to resolve and will likely be extra prone to yield irrelevant data," the letter mentioned.
The committee responded in a tweet later Friday, saying, "Why’s DOJ scared to cooperate with our investigations?"
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