House Judiciary Chair Intends to Subpoena Justice Department for Comey Memos

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (right) talks with Rep. Trey Gowdy during a House Judiciary Committee hearing, November 14, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., intends to issue a subpoena demanding the Justice Department (DOJ) turn over the Comey memos. Fired former FBI Director James Comey allegedly wrote memos detailing his conversations with President Donald Trump.

He subsequently leaked those memos to his friend and Columbia Law professor with the explicit purpose of triggering a special counsel. That special counsel was none other than his friend and mentor Robert Mueller, and experts say his actions exposed him to potential legal ramifications.

The subpoena could be issued as soon as this week, sources said. People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) also confirmed members of the Judiciary Committee were briefed on the plan to issue the subpoena on Wednesday. Worth noting, under standard committee process rules, the timeline lines up.

On April 13, 2018, Chairman Goodlatte and other committee chairs sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein requesting copies of the Comey memos to be “available immediately” for review.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation itself deemed them government property belonging to the bureau, making their leak a potential crime.

Representative Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., joined Mr. Goodlatte in the letter.

“The Committees request the Department of Justice make copies of the Comey memos available immediately,” the letter stated. “There is no legal basis for withholding these materials from Congress.”

The move by the House Judiciary Committee chairman is an escalation of a feud between elected representatives conducting lawful oversight and unelected officials in the government.

Mr. Rosenstein, who has done everything possible to prevent Congress from obtaining documents that proved damaging to DOJ, responded with a letter Monday stonewalling.

“One or more of the memos may relate to an ongoing investigation, may contain classified information, and may report confidential Presidential communications, so we have a legal duty to evaluate the consequences of providing access to them,” he wrote.

Requesting more time while also arguing that the Justice Department may not be able to provide documents in full has become Mr. Rosenstein’s modi operandorum. It was only when he was facing impeachment was Mr. Rosenstein forced to allow Chairman Nunes to view the memo that served as the genesis of the Russia probe.

The man behind the memo was none other than Peter Strzok, the corrupt FBI counterintelligence agent who, along with his extra-marital lover Lisa Page, played a key role in the sham investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Mr. Mueller hired both Mr. Strzok and Ms. Page to serve on his team characterized as an “ethically-challenged Democratic hit squad” before he fired them last summer in an attempt to avoid media criticism.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rosenstein also tried to hide the fact former Obama Administration officials at DOJ and the FBI used unverified opposition research, which was bought and paid for by Democrats, as the basis to spy on Team Trump.

Further, as People’s Pundit Daily previously reported, Mr. Rosenstein went so far as to threaten Chairman Nunes if HPSCI continued to investigate abuses of secretive surveillance programs.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows intelligence agencies to collect information on foreign targets abroad. However, as PPD also previously reported, it has been “routinely” abused and misused to spy on domestic targets, including President Trump, his associates and other U.S. citizens.

Mr. Rosenstein expressed his frustration with the committee’s probe during a meeting that took place on January 10, threatening to subpoena call and text message records belonging to Chairman Nunes and other HPSCI members.

Chairman Goodlatte gave Mr. Rosenstein “no later than the close of business Monday, April 16, 2018” to hand over the Comey memos.