House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said reports that former President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice subpoenaed Democratic lawmakers go “beyond” the actions taken by Richard Nixon.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions subpoenaed Apple in 2017 and 2018 for the data belonging to California Rep. Adam Schiff, then-ranking member of the committee, as well as panel staff and family members amid a hunt for the sources of leaks about Trump associates and their ties to Russia. Pelosi vowed to bring both Sessions and former Attorney General William Barr before Congress to testify about the allegations after the pair denied the claims.
“What the Republicans did — what the administration did … goes even beyond Richard Nixon,” Pelosi told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Richard Nixon had an enemies list. This is about undermining the rule of law, and for these attorneys general … or Sessions, at least, to say they, too, didn’t know anything about it is beyond belief.”
WATCHDOG WILL INVESTIGATE TRUMP DOJ LEAK SUBPOENAS AGAINST CONGRESS AND REPORTERS
“So we will have to have them come under oath to testify about that,” she added.
When asked if she’ll subpoena Sessions and Barr if they refuse to testify, the Democratic leader said, “Well, let’s hope that they will want to honor the rule of law.”
“The Justice Department has been rogue under President Trump, understand that, in so many respects,” she continued. “This is just another manifestation of their rogue activity.”
On Friday, the DOJ’s top watchdog, Michael Horowitz, announced that an investigation has commenced into Trump’s DOJ.
“The DOJ OIG is reviewing the DOJ’s use of subpoenas and other legal authorities to obtain communication records of Members of Congress and affiliated persons, and the news media in connection with recent investigations of alleged unauthorized disclosures of information to the media by government officials,” the DOJ inspector general’s office said.
The New York Times reported that records of “at least a dozen people tied to the” House Intelligence Committee were seized by DOJ authorities. Previous reports have also suggested that top brass in the Trump administration also sought seizures from journalists with the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times.
On Friday, Barr denied knowledge of the subpoenas and said he was “not aware of any congressman’s records being sought in a leak case.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I never discussed the leak cases with Trump. He didn’t really ask me any of the specifics,” the former attorney general told Politico.
Similarly, Sessions and former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have also denied knowledge of the matter.
