House Intel Committee Chair tears into DOJ & FBI for stalling and lying about Russia dossier subpoenas - threatens contempt charges

By Robert Laurie —— Bio and Archives December 31, 2017

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Back in August, congressional subpoenas were issued to the DOJ, seeking documents and testimony relating to the scandalous (and uncorroborated) Fusion GPS dossier. The deadline of those subpoenas was ignored, and the DOJ claimed that the documents in question did not exist. Unfortunately, that was a lie. At least, that's the claim made by House Intel Committee Chairman Devin Nunes in a scathing letter he sent to the DOJ yesterday. Nunes accuses the DOJ and FBI of stalling, ignoring deadlines, and lying. In the end, he even threatens to hold them in contempt.

Yeah, it's good stuff. Nunes was less than thrilled to find out that the requested documentation did in fact exist all along...

“As it turns out, not only did documents exist that were directly responsive to the committee’s subpoenas, but they involved senior DOJ and FBI officials who were swiftly reassigned when their roles in matters under the committee’s investigation were brought to light.”

...And as The Hill & Washington Examiner report, he's fighting mad.

"Shortly before my meeting with you in early December, DOJ subsequently located and produced numerous FD-302s pertaining to the Steele dossier, thereby rendering the initial response disingenuous at best," Nunes wrote. FD-302s are FBI forms used to report on interviews conducted. "Given the content and impact of these supposedly newly-discovered FD-302s, the Committee is no longer able to accept your purported basis for DOJ's blanket refusal to provide responsive FBI Form FD-1023s--documenting meetings between FBI officials and FBI confidential human sources-or anything less than full and complete compliance with its subpoenas," Nunes added.

The letter continues:

"As a result of the numerous delays and discrepancies that have hampered the process of subpoena compliance, the committee no longer credits the representations made by DOJ and/or the FBI regarding these matters." "Unfortunately, DOJ/FBI's intransigence with respect to the Aug. 24 subpoenas is part of a broader pattern of behavior that can no longer be tolerated. At this point it seems the DOJ and FBI need to be investigating themselves."

Nunes is demanding not just the FD-302s, but also testimony from a host of officials at both the FBI and DOJ. Those officials are:

• Former DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr
• FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) Peter Strzok
• FBI Attorney James Baker
• FBI Attorney Lisa Page
• FBI Attorney Sally Moyer
• FBI Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs Greg Brower.

Nunes has now demanded that the FBI and DOJ be in full compliance by January 3rd. If they fail again, he threatens to introoduce a "contempt of Congress resolution."