Updated at 12:41 a.m. on April 19

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee says Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is poised to subpoena the Justice Department for former FBI Director James Comey’s memos, which the agency so far has failed to produce.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., warned such a move puts Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in jeopardy of being placed in contempt of Congress and the special counsel investigation of being shut down prematurely.

Nadler announced in a statement that Goodlatte informed him Wednesday that "he intends to issue a subpoena to the Department of Justice — in this case to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein."

A spokesperson for Goodlatte did not immediately return the Washington Examiner's request for confirmation.

The Justice Department also did not immediately return a request for comment.

Goodlatte was one of three committee chairmen who pressed the Justice Department to turn over the Comey memos. Comey, who was fired by President Trump in May 2017, testified before a congressional committee that he wrote memos detailing various conversations he had with Trump. In one memo, Comey claimed that the president pressured him to end the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In another, Comey recalled how Trump demanded loyalty from him.

The three chairmen, including House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., argued there is “no legal basis for withholding these materials from Congress" and set a Monday deadline for the DOJ to comply.

However, the agency did not act in time and was granted a brief extension.

Nadler warned that if a subpoena is issued it would be damaging to special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

The Democrat said the memos are "key" to the special counsel's work, and "pursuant to a longstanding Department policy and absent any satisfactory accommodation, the Department of Justice cannot simply hand over evidence that is part of an ongoing criminal investigation."

Should House Republicans refuse any such "accommodation," Nadler said, "I fear the Majority will have manufactured an excuse to hold the Deputy Attorney General in contempt of Congress."

"If they succeed in tarnishing the Deputy Attorney General, perhaps they will have given President Trump pretext he has sought to replace Mr. Rosenstein with someone willing to do his bidding and end the Special Counsel's investigation."

Nadler vowed to fight to ensure the investigation remains unimpeded.

Trump has long called the Russia investigation, which is looking for evidence that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin, a "witch hunt."

Trump has reportedly been discussing firing Mueller and Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller's probe. Concerns about the president doing so amplified this month after the FBI raided the office, home, and hotel room of Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Rosenstein reportedly personally signed off on the raid, and federal prosecutors obtained the search warrant for Cohen’s office after receiving a referral from Mueller.

During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday, Trump said that despite reports over the last few months indicating he is going to fire Mueller and Rosenstein, “They're still here.”