Investigating the investigators: GOP’s new ‘weaponization’ panel takes aim at Justice Department
Sarah Westwood
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Republicans eager to substantiate their oft-repeated accusations of corruption at the Department of Justice will soon have their chance thanks to the creation of a new panel focused on perceived bias at the agency.
As House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) struggled to attract the votes needed to secure the gavel, he offered to greenlight the formation of a select committee to investigate the “weaponization of the federal government” to appease his critics.
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The idea quickly became popular within a slim GOP majority that, thanks to the Democrats’ retention of the Senate, will be able to accomplish its oversight function but little in the way of legislation.
The House rules package adopted on Monday laid out few specifics for the committee.
However, the section of the rules package establishing the select committee also included a resolution “expressing support for the Nation’s law enforcement agencies and condemning any efforts to defund or dismantle law enforcement agencies.”
Critics have raised concerns that Republicans could use the new panel to undermine ongoing criminal investigations, including several related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, as well as deepen a general sense of mistrust in the FBI.
“So, why don’t we just be blunt here?” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) said on the House floor. “Republicans claim to care about law enforcement. But this new committee is about attacking law enforcement.”
Republicans argue a look at DOJ bias is long overdue, and many have worked to distinguish their suspicions about political corruption from their overall support for law enforcement.
The targets of the new select committee could be wide-ranging.
During the speaker negotiations, McCarthy had described the proposed panel as a “Church-style” committee, modeled after a famous investigative effort from the 1970s.
The 1975 Church Committee, named for its Democratic leader, Sen. Frank Church, uncovered abuses within the CIA and other intelligence agencies and led to the creation of the modern Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said the “weaponization” panel will also look at ways corporations work with federal officials to advance partisan agendas.
“It will investigate how the executive branch agencies work with and exchange information with the private sector and other government agencies to facilitate action against American citizens, how the executive branch agencies collect, compile, analyze, use or disseminate information about citizens of the United States,” Cole said.
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That could involve an inquiry into recently revealed information from published Twitter files that suggests the FBI and other federal officials worked closely with the social media platform to suppress conservative viewpoints in the name of public safety.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) is expected to lead the weaponization panel, which will be formed as a subcommittee of the judiciary committee.
Jordan has extensive experience with high-profile congressional investigations; for example, he was a star member of the select committee empaneled to investigate the Benghazi terror attack.