John Lausch, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois assuaged GOP complaints that the Justice Department has been uncooperative. | Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo U.S. attorney seeks to quiet GOP complaints that DOJ won't cooperate

The Illinois attorney tapped to oversee the Justice Department’s process for sharing documents with congressional investigators said Wednesday that the agency is not refusing any requests but that “we need to do much better” at working with lawmakers.

John Lausch, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, appeared on “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump's favorite morning show, to assuage GOP complaints that the Justice Department has been uncooperative.


Republican lawmakers have sought documents related to the FBI and DOJ’s handling of two separate, sensitive probes during the 2016 campaign. Lausch was tapped by the DOJ on Monday to oversee the production of materials related to the FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server. GOP lawmakers also want documents tied to an application for a warrant to conduct surveillance of a Trump campaign aide.

“We need to do better. We need to do much better,” Lausch said Wednesday. “To be clear, the DOJ is not refusing to turn over anything. And, of course, Congress has — they have a right and obligation to do their job, which includes oversight. What our job and what my job will be is to ensure that we have a process, a better process than we have had going forward so far.”

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House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) late last month subpoenaed the Justice Department for 1.2 million documents related to the decision not to bring any criminal charges against Clinton over her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

Goodlatte is also seeking documents related to the recommendation by the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, as well as what Republicans view as potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FBI and Justice Department obtained a FISA warrant in October 2016 to monitor the communications of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, whom intelligence officers suspected of acting as a foreign agent.

Conservatives on Capitol Hill have complained that the Justice Department has been slow to provide requested documents and that the materials are heavily redacted when they are handed over.

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to vent his frustration with the pace of the investigation.

“What is going on? BAD!” the president wrote. “What does the Department of Justice and FBI have to hide? Why aren’t they giving the strongly requested documents (unredacted) to the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE? Stalling, but for what reason? Not looking good!”

Lausch said that while there are appropriate reasons to redact documents, his job is to make sure the department is responsive.

“I’m here as an outsider, someone from outside of D.C., to come in here in order to look at the process, and in particular to look at the redactions. And to make sure, one, that there aren’t any redactions based on embarrassment,” Lausch said. “That’s never been an appropriate reason.”

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Wednesday floated the idea of holding Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein in contempt of Congress for his failure to deliver the documents in a timely manner and said Trump's recent displays of frustration toward special counsel Robert Mueller "pale in comparison" to lawmakers' rage at Rosenstein.

"He is not giving us the documents and he is not doing his job. And if he is not going to do the job, he needs to go and find one that he will do," Meadows said. "They should be held in contempt if they can't get it right."

Meadows also echoed threats House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) made late Tuesday to impeach FBI Director Christopher Wray.

"Hopefully they will comply long before we have to go that route, but it is in the toolbox that we have there," Meadows said. "Certainly contempt of Congress is the first step.”

