U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is demanding Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland explain what appears to be an illicit Justice Department scheme to spy on congressional Republicans.
Jordan has now subpoenaed Garland to force him to turn over information on Justice Department attempts to seize the personal records of Republican lawmakers and even Republican staffers.
The move comes after Google informed congressional Republicans the Justice Department had “subpoenaed Google in 2017 for the staffer's personal phone records and emails during the period when Senator [Charles] Grassley was conducting vigorous oversight of the Department's handling of the so-called Steele dossier,” the Judiciary Committee revealed in a statement.
“Google's notification to this staffer revealed the Justice Department likely also sought the personal records and communications of other congressional staffers—both Republicans and Democrats—who engaged in oversight of the Department during the same period,” the Committee reports.
Jordan has attempted to get answers from the Justice Department on their spying on Congress, but so far DOJ has refused, forcing a congressional subpoena.
Because the DOJ has not complied in full with the Committee's requests, it cannot independently determine whether the DOJ sought to alleviate the heightened separation-of-powers sensitivities involved or whether the DOJ first sought the information through other means before resorting to legal process,” the Committee reports.
There are concerns DOJ's scheme to spy on Congress could go even deeper.
“The Committee also has concerns that aspects of the DOJ's investigation may have been a pretext to justify piercing the Legislative Branch's deliberative process and improperly access data from Members and staff involved in conducting oversight of the Department,” the Committee reports.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Red State Wealth Transfer Fails Spectacularly
