Officials said on Monday that thousands of internal FBI documents pertaining to the bureau’s decisions emanating from the 2016 election were handed over to congressional investigators in the latest document handover in the probe.
The delivery comes at a time of increased complaints that the Justice Department and FBI are working too slowly to produce the documents for the House Judiciary and Oversight committees. A sitting U.S. attorney will also be designated to oversee the process, the Justice Department said on Monday.
President Donald Trump previously attacked the Justice Department on Twitter, accusing it of slow-walking the process.
“What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide?” Trump tweeted on Saturday. “Slow walking – what is going on? BAD!”
The joint congressional probe is examining the moves made by the FBI as it investigated Hillary Clinton’s private email server. In March, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte subpoenaed the Justice Department criticizing the agency for its responsiveness to the probe and expanding the inquiry to include questions of surveillance abuse and the decision to fire former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, CNN informs.
As a result, FBI Director Christopher Wray doubled the number of FBI personnel reviewing the records for release. Together with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he also asked Chicago U.S. attorney John Lausch to oversee the production process.
“Mr. Lausch, who has experience in the Department and in private practice, will ensure that production moves at an acceptable pace and that any redactions are necessary and consistent under the relevant laws and regulations,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement.
In a statement of his own, Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy expressed doubt on the Justice Department’s production effort, and expressed skepticism about the move to bring in the U.S. attorney.
“Congress requested these documents months ago,” Gowdy said. “Congress has consistently been assured the production was in progress. How is injecting someone new into an ongoing review and production process calculated to expedite the process?”
As of Monday, roughly 7,600 pages of redacted documents have been produced to the House Judiciary Committee, causing dissatisfaction among lawmakers.
“Part of the document production Congress received on March 30 was on a classified disc. 100% of the substantive material on that disc was redacted. You make the call: Do you think this is the Department of Justice’s best effort toward cooperation?” Republican Representative Mark Meadows tweeted Monday.
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