House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) believes Trump transition team member and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is justified in his latest push to get the Justice Department to hand over classified information, saying it is within the scope of his committee's investigation.
(Note: The CNN article does not include Ryan's full quote, leaving it unclear what investigation he was referencing. A review of the video shows he said, "It's completely within the scope of the investigation that's been ongoing for a while with respect to FISA.)
Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, who have been pursuing a questionable agenda and hounding the Justice Department, prematurely shut down their Russia investigation in March and released a final report last month.
CNN:
"This request is perfectly appropriate, within the scope of the committee's investigation. And I hope and I believe and expect that they will be complied with," Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, said Thursday.
For months, Nunes has been battling with the Justice Department for a range of documents in an attempt to sow doubt about the roots of the Russia investigation. The Justice Department has repeatedly appealed to Ryan to get Nunes to back off, warning his tactics could undercut ongoing investigations. But Ryan has repeatedly sided with his colleague from California, who has ultimately received most of what he's sought.
Nunes and fellow committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) spent about an hour at the Department of Justice Thursday getting a briefing from federal law enforcement on the material Nunes subpoenaed.
Nunes claimed he wasn't asking for information on a particular person, but his subpoena specifically demanded "all documents referring or related to the individual referenced in Chairman Nunes' April 24, 2018 letter to Attorney General Sessions."
That individual remains unidentified, but Nunes persisted in spite of Department of Justice officials warning that turning over the requested materials would "endanger a top-secret intelligence source."
CNN:
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Nunes and Gowdy said they had a "productive" meeting with officials from the Justice Department, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"The officials committed to holding further discussions of these matters, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue next week to satisfy the committee's request," Nunes and Gowdy said.
The briefing was set up after Nunes had threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt over the standoff, which prompted a round of negotiations between Nunes and the Justice Department in which White House chief of staff John Kelly also got involved, according to a source familiar with the matter. The White House and Kelly so far have backed the Justice Department's decision not to provide Congress with the documents being sought.
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Ryan said that he had spoken to Nunes, Gowdy and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about the matter.
"This is a classified request. And I believe that they can honor this request without jeopardizing those issues," he said when asked about the Justice Department's concerns that disclosing the information could endanger lives. "I expect that we will be able to have an accommodation to honor this request."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), ranking Democrat on the committee, will get the same briefing as Nunes and Gowdy but in a separate session.
"I've expressed my concerns to them with prior requests that (Republicans) are going to keep asking until they get 'no' for an answer because they just want to have a fight with the Justice Department," Schiff said. "The Justice Department is going to be in a no-win situation."
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused Republicans of trying to create a situation to remove Sessions or Rosenstein from office.
"Bombarding the Justice Department with document requests simply to create a pretext for firing or impeaching our nation's senior law enforcement officials is a blatant abuse of power that should concern everyone who believes in the rule of law, Republican and Democrat alike," Warner tweeted.
Ryan backs Nunes in latest dispute with Justice Department (CNN)