GOP ‘weaponization of government’ panel threatens to subpoena members of Biden administration
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GOP ‘weaponization of government’ panel threatens to subpoena members of Biden administration, ‘expose’ attack on parents at school board meetings
- Republicans created the new ‘weaponization’ panel on a party-line vote when they passed a new package of House rules.
- New York Rep. Elise Stefanik Says Subpoenas Are Coming
- Ohio President Jim Jordan Wants to Investigate Hunter Biden, Justice Department Protests
A newly created House Republican-led committee on “weaponizing” the government is preparing to issue subpoenas, with plans to focus on the Justice Department and school board protests that erupted last year.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has already sent a letter to retired FBI agent Timothy Thibault accusing “abuse and misconduct” at higher levels of the Justice Department. Republicans have accused him of partisanship related to the Hunter Biden investigation, conduct denied by his lawyers.
It was co-signed by Darrell Issa, a former chairman of the Oversight panel when it investigated Benghazi. He is among a core group of Republicans on a new sub-panel on the “weaponization” of government, chaired by Jordan.
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a Donald Trump loyalist who chairs the Republican conference, is a new member of the panel and is speaking out about her subpoena power. The standoff over the investigations comes as President Joe Biden prepares to sit down with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy amid a looming debt-ceiling crisis.
“I anticipate that there will be subpoenas, not just from this select subcommittee, but from many of the agencies that have refused to honor requests for documents,” he told the washington Examiner, saying that there would “absolutely” be speed subpoenas.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) heads a select subcommittee on ‘weaponizing’ government
“We will fight for transparency and accountability and sunshine on corruption in these federal agencies, and it is telling that the Democrats and the Biden administration and Joe Biden himself are already trying to obstruct our efforts to access the information. These agencies work for the American people, not the other way around,’ he said.
The Democrats are devising their own strategy to roll back. The former chairman of the judicial panel, Rep. Jerold Nadler, is among those who already believe the Republicans will overreach.
“Clearly, when they go crazy, we’ll turn it down,” Nadler said. CNN.
Nadler was in Congress when House Republicans launched a series of investigations of President Bill Clinton in an effort that culminated in his impeachment.
Republicans created the new ‘weaponry’ panel in a party-line vote when they approved a new package of House rules, following talks between now-Chairman Kevin McCarthy and rogue Republicans who want to take on the Biden administration.
Stefanik also indicated that the panel intends to focus on an October Department of Justice memorandum about ‘violent threats against school officials and teachers’. That came amid angry clashes at school board meetings last fall, amid an uproar over a letter from the National Association of School Boards comparing protesting parents to domestic terrorists.
“You’re talking about the federal government targeting parents who ask valid questions about their children’s education, including violent acts committed against their children in schools,” Stefanik said. “It’s government weaponry at its worst, and that’s why we’re focused on getting to the truth.”
“I anticipate there will be subpoenas,” said the subcommittee’s select member, Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.)
The ‘weaponization’ panel is intended to target ‘bias’ in government agencies. One of the first efforts focuses on the Justice Department headed by AG Merrick Garland and the Hunter Biden investigation.
A new letter from the Judiciary focuses on “troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target concerned parents at local school board meetings.” A meeting in Loudoun County, Virginia, was halted in June because a crowd refused to shut up.
There were a series of tense school board meetings last summer and fall.
Another letter, addressed to FBI human resources officer Jennifer Leigh Moore, cites complaints from “whistleblowers” and claims a “purge” of conservatives in the office.
Lawmakers had sent similar letters last year when they were in the minority, but to no avail.
A letter to the head of the National School Boards Association, Chip Slaven, says the panel is investigating “troubling attempts by the Department of Justice and the White House to use the heavy hand of federal law enforcement to target parents.” concerned at local school board meetings and freezing their protégés First Amendment activity.