House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is considering the creation of an investigative committee to probe the Justice Department and other weaponized agencies after the FBI reportedly raided former President Donald Trump’s estate of Mar-A-Lago on Monday.
“When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned,” McCarthy said in a statement. “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”
When McCarthy was asked by Punchbowl News about what type of committee he would create upon likely retaking the House, he said he would confer with the Republican caucus. “I gotta talk to my members and see where we go,” McCarthy said. “We have to follow it wherever it goes.”
There are a couple of types of committees that McCarthy could erect. First, a select committee could be created and would exclude Democrats, similar to the Democrats’ partisan January 6 Committee. A select committee is a type of temporary committee created to conduct investigations or consider other measures on a specific topic. Second, McCarthy could run the investigation through existing bipartisan committees, such as the Judiciary or Oversight and Reform Committees.
Precedent suggests Republicans may form a committee like the Church Committee, “which investigated a broad range of governmental misconduct by intelligence agencies during the mid 1970s,” Punchbowl News reported.
“That select Senate panel, chaired by the late Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho), was tasked with looking into ‘illegal, improper or unethical activities’ by any government agency.”
A select committee is already being considered to investigate the Biden family business schemes, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) told Breitbart News last week. According to Gaetz, the committee would be formed of members with expertise from the Foreign Affairs Committee, Financial Services, Oversight Committee, and Judiciary Committee. “I’m not suggesting we establish a select committee for political payback — but to look into very legitimate concerns about influence peddling and compromise and leverage that may exist today over the Biden family,” he said.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) wants action immediately and has demanded FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday to speak about the agencies’ actions against President Biden’s political opponent, Donald Trump:
This Friday, we’re going back to vote on this stupid bill … Merrick Garland, Chris Wray, come to the House Judiciary Committee this Friday and answer our questions about this action today, which has never happened in American history. … Why not talk to President Trump and have him give the information that you’re after? This is unbelievable, and understand the history here: One year ago it was Merrick Garland using the Patriot Act against parents. One day ago, it was 87,000 agents in a bill the Democrats passed to go harass Americans from the IRA. And today, we have the raid of a former president’s home? In America? So — heck, we deserve answers now, and this Friday would be a good time.
Many Republican House members were outraged after the FBI’s raid. “In third world countries and banana republics they prosecute the former presidents/leaders and their staff,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) stated. “Right now, we look beneath them. We are in a race to the bottom.”
“The FBI and DOJ are acting as the political enforcers of the Democrat Party,” Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) said. “The FBI must immediately release the information used to obtain the warrant. Garland and Wray must immediately come before @JudiciaryGOP. Republicans must smash the FBl into a million pieces.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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