WASHINGTON, D. C. - Champaign County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan -- who had a heated exchange with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month -- has introduced impeachment articles against the number two Justice Department official.

Jordan and several of his House Freedom Caucus colleagues introduced the impeachment articles on Wednesday. They claim that Rosenstein intentionally withheld embarrassing documents and information from Congress, failed to comply with congressional subpoenas, and otherwise abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

"The DOJ is keeping information from Congress," said a statement from Jordan. "Enough is enough. It's time to hold Mr. Rosenstein accountable for blocking Congress' constitutional oversight role."

The articles also contend Rosenstein has a conflict of interest in special prosecutor Robert Mueller's probe of Donald Trump, since he's a potential witness, and allege his failure to recuse himself from the investigation and appoint a second Special Counsel amounts to "dereliction of duty."

Just because members of Congress introduce impeachment articles against a federal official doesn't mean that federal official will be removed from office. It's easy for congressional leaders to sidetrack such resolutions, as they did when former Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich repeatedly introduced measures to impeach former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over the Iraq War. Several current Democratic members of Congress have introduced impeachment resolutions against President Donald Trump which haven't gone anywhere.

I just filed a resolution with @Jim_Jordan and several colleagues to impeach Rod Rosenstein. The DOJ has continued to hide information from Congress and repeatedly obstructed oversight--even defying multiple Congressional subpoenas.



We have had enough. — Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) July 25, 2018

In 2016, Jordan introduced impeachment articles against former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, contending he lied to Congress and obstructed an investigation of whether his agency improperly scrutinized tax exemption requests from conservative groups. Koskinen denied the charges, and Jordan's colleagues voted to send his impeachment measure to the Judiciary Committee, which ignored it.

When Jordan accused Rosenstein of trying to withhold information from Congress last month at a testy congressional hearing, Rosenstein told him the Justice Department has a "team of folks" consisting of "hundreds of people working around the clock" who are "doing their best to produce these documents."

"I'm not trying to hide anything from you," Rosenstein said.

Wednesday's move by Jordan and ten of his conservative colleagues came shortly after GOP lawmakers met with Justice Department officials who have provided more than 800,0000 documents that Congress requested about actions it took during the 2016 presidential race.

According to the Associated Press, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy said after the meeting that he was pleased with the department's efforts and wouldn't support Rosenstein's impeachment. House Speaker Paul Ryan has also said he is satisfied with progress on the document production.

Democrats dismissed Jordan's impeachment effort as "partisan nonsense," in the words of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who called the effort "dangerous for the rule of law" and said "it needs to stop."

See this for what it is. An attempt by complicit Republicans led by Meadows and Jordan to delegitimize a probe being conducted by DOJ. These Trump lackeys have to decide what they value: the rule of law or doing everything to protect Trump. Be strong DOJ. https://t.co/gbuTWEUVdt — Eric Holder (@EricHolder) July 26, 2018

Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called it "an attempt by complicit Republicans" to delegitimize the Justice Department's probe.

"These Trump lackeys have to decide what they value: the rule of law or doing everything to protect Trump," Holder said on Twitter.

We can't get answers for the American people if we can't get information from the DOJ.



It’s time to impeach Rod Rosenstein. https://t.co/FeNtMs3mQH — Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 26, 2018

The top Democrats on the House Oversight, Judiciary and Intelligence committees released a joint statement that called the impeachment resolution "a panicked and dangerous attempt to undermine an ongoing criminal investigation in an effort to protect President Trump as the walls are closing in around him and his associates."

The statement released by Representatives Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Adam Schiff of California said the resolution has no chance of removng Rosenstein, whom they called "one of the few restraints against the overreaches of the President and his allies in Congress."

Rep. @Jim_Jordan: "We have sent numerous letters to Rod Rosenstein they haven't complied with. Two subpoenas they haven't complied with. We've caught the Department of Justice hiding information, redacting information that they should not have redacted." @IngrahamaAngle pic.twitter.com/oXJ1aIG8Jg — Fox News (@FoxNews) July 26, 2018

"To date, Special Counsel Mueller has obtained 30 indictments and five guilty pleas against a group that includes four Trump campaign officials and 26 Russian nationals," their statement said. "The President should not mistake this move by his congressional enablers as a pretext to take any action against Mr. Rosenstein or Mr. Mueller and his investigation. Any attempt to do so will be viewed by Congress and the American people as further proof of an effort to obstruct justice with severe consequences for Trump and his presidency."