House Republicans are declaring what amounts to an investigative war on the Biden administration and federal agencies. The move is a dramatic escalation by Republicans in their standoff with the administration.
Republicans controlling the House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to launch an investigation into what they term President Joe Biden’s weaponization of the federal government.
Republican lawmakers are empowering themselves to look at any agency or program that they view as a suspect. But the DOJ is bound to safeguard its own investigations.
It is a measure that promises to continue escalating quickly.
The wide-ranging investigative panel says it will probe what the GOP calls the “weaponization of government.” It’s a broad mandate that will allow the party to look into any government agency or program that it views as suspect, including the FBI, IRS, and the intelligence community.
It also makes good on a key demand of a band of hardline far-right conservatives, who opposed Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s bid for the gavel.
Republicans have been promising to use their newly won, but slim, majority of the House against federal agencies, including the Justice Department and FBI.
The federal agencies have been investigating former president Donald Trump and his supporters who stormed the Capitol in a violent insurrection two years ago on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Republicans pushed a vote on the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, with it passing on party lines.
Democrats say that the new subcommittee is merely a partisan fishing expedition.
The committee is set to launch a wide-ranging probe of Democrat Biden’s administration, which Republicans accuse of “weaponizing” the FBI against Trump.
Among the federal agencies targeted are those looking into Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, as well as his mishandling of hundreds of classified documents.
Republicans will also investigate claims that the Biden administration has pressured big tech and social media companies to censor views that run contrary to White House policy.
The bill establishing the panel said lawmakers would probe how the executive branch works with the private sector, nonprofit groups, and other agencies “to facilitate action against” American citizens.
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