House Democrats eye GOP playbook for Justice Department requests

Uncertain about how much of the Mueller report may be made public, Democrats will look to use their powers to obtain information.

March 4, 2019, 7:30 AM EST
By Mike Memoli and Geoff Bennett

WASHINGTON — Democrats who now wield gavels and subpoena power in the U.S. House of Representatives have not been shy in faulting their Republican counterparts for shirking oversight responsibility when they were in control over the past two years.

But there’s one key area — with potentially significant ramifications for the public’s understanding of the Mueller investigation — on which they agree: the GOP’s dogged and largely successful pursuit of sensitive documents from the Justice Department.

As the special counsel probe nears its conclusion and lawmakers still uncertain about just how much of Mueller’s work will be made public, Democrats are considering a number of political and legal pressure points previously employed by Republicans to try and extract materials from the Justice Department it otherwise might be loath to reveal voluntarily, setting up what could be a significant constitutional clash with the Trump administration over executive privilege and separation of powers.

You might call it the Devin Nunes playbook, based on tactics employed by the former House Intelligence Committee chairman and other GOP committee leaders to use subpoena power, threats of contempt and even impeachment to coerce the Justice Department into an unprecedented series of disclosures of materials related to both the Hillary Clinton email investigation and key aspects of the Russia investigation itself.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-eye-gop-playbook-justice-department-requests-n978751?cid=public-rss_20190304