Trey Gowdy has been at the forefront of exposing the FBI’s abuse of power in using FISA warrants to spy on members of the Trump team.
But he just took the fight to the next level.
Now he’s attending a closed door meeting that could change everything.
Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have been heading for a showdown with the Department of Justice.
Chairman Devin Nunes sent an April 24th letter requesting documents relating to FISA abuses.
This letter was a legitimate use of Congresses Article I oversight authority.
But the DOJ and FBI fought back and claimed that providing Nunes with these documents would compromise “sources and methods.”
Their specific justification was protecting the identity of an American citizen.
Nunes and Trey Gowdy smelled a rat.
The FBI and DOJ have been caught before redacting information that had nothing to do with national security and everything to do with covering up their own misdeeds.
In this case, the FBI and DOJ said they were protecting the identity of an American who also provided information to the Mueller probe.
Critics immediately blasted the FBI and DOJ for concealing this information because the identity of Mueller’s source could be partisan and/or embarrassing and cast the investigation in an entirely different light.
So Nunes pressed forward and threatened to hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt.
That led to the White House intervening and offering a compromise.
Gowdy and Nunes would attend a classified briefing on the documents they requested.
Politico reports:
“In a late Tuesday phone call with top GOP lawmakers, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to meet with key House members at the Justice Department on Thursday to discuss the issue. But they stopped short of promising full access to the material they’re requesting, the sources said.
Kelly encouraged Rosenstein and the lawmakers – House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy – to work together to resolve disputes between DOJ and GOP investigators, according to sources familiar with the call. Kelly admonished both sides against messy public disputes that have ratcheted up tension between Rosenstein and Nunes to an untenable degree of severity.
The lawmakers spoke to Kelly amid a last-ditch blitz by the Justice Department and FBI to convince the White House that sharing the information the Republicans were seeking would jeopardize national security.
Nunes and other House Republicans accuse the Justice Department of crying wolf, and insist they have a responsibility to review the documents.”
It is unclear if this will satisfy Nunes and Gowdy.
A briefing will allow the FBI and DOJ to frame the information on their terms and conceal key details.
Congress is a superior agency to the DOJ since under the Constitution, Congress creates and funds the DOJ.
If Congress requests a document, an executive branch agency is required to provide it.
Will Trey Gowdy get to the bottom of this Deep State cover up?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
