Posted on 05/28/2020 10:20:03 AM PDT by RandFan
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) will force a vote next week on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to decide whether or not he has the authority to issue subpoenas as part of his investigation into the FBI's probe of 2016 Russian election meddling and the Trump campaign.
Johnson, who chairs the panel, announced the committee vote for Thursday, June 4.
The committee will vote on a "motion to authorize the Chairman to issue subpoenas for records and testimony to U.S. Government agencies and to individuals relating to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crossfire Hurricane Investigation, the DOJ Inspector General's review of that investigation, and the 'unmasking' of U.S. persons affiliated with the Trump campaign, transition teams, and Trump Administration," according to the announcement of the vote.
A spokesman for Johnson said next week's vote would not be on individual subpoenas, but on giving the GOP senator subpoena issuing authority.
It wasn't immediately clear what officials would be covered under the subpoena authority, which touches on the Russia investigation and reports from Justice Department (DOJ) Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
It also appears to reference the investigation of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired by Trump in 2017 for misleading Vice President Pence about his conversations with then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. Republicans have increasingly come to Flynn's defense in the wake of the DOJ's decision to drop its case against him, saying he was the victim of prosecutorial misconduct.
Johnson said earlier this month that he would investigate the probe into Flynn, telling reporters that he had "suspected for quite some time that there was a concerted effort to sabotage this administration."
“Why were there people all over the place unmasking conversations that Michael Flynn was involved in? What other unmaskings occurred during that same time?” Johnson asked.
Under current committee rules, a subpoena can be issued either by an agreement with Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the panel's top Democrat, or by a majority vote.
A spokesperson for Peters didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Republicans are ramping up their investigations tied to the Obama administration as President Trump prepares to face off against former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in November.
Johnson's committee voted along party lines last week to issue a subpoena for Blue Star Strategies, a firm with ties to Ukraine gas company Burisma Holdings, as part of his probe into Hunter Biden.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), will also hold a vote next Thursday on issuing subpoenas for dozens of officials — including former FBI Director James Comey, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former national security adviser Susan Rice — as part of Graham's probe into "Crossfire Hurricane," the name of the FBI's investigation.
The subpoena votes have sparked frustration with Democrats, who view the investigations as an attempt to go after Trump's political enemies and hunt for fodder against Biden ahead of November.
Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will also testify before the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, marking Graham's first public hearing as part of his investigation.
Well, more power to him...but this is a process vote. Shouldn’t that have been done months or years back so he would have the power to subpoena already? Kind of like Ents deciding to go to war....take your time.
Romney and Portman on that committee so not a done deal.
No...this is a new matter.
Ah yes.. .good point!
Mittens is a wildcard.
Rand is a lock to vote for it. Guaranteed! :)
Just do it. Paper the town with subpoenas. And don’t forget Obama.
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