FBI Director Christopher Wray (second from left) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. | WIn McNamee/Getty Images Dems tell Rosenstein, Wray not to bow to GOP pressure

Democrats urged Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray in a letter made public Thursday not to bend to pressure by congressional Republicans and hand over national security information.

Wray and Rosenstein are set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday about a bombshell inspector general report released earlier this month, which found that former FBI Director James Comey made mistakes during an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server.


House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer signed the letter addressed to the pair, along with Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, warning that handing over sensitive material in response to Republicans' demands for documents could compromise the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

“With every disclosure, DOJ and FBI are reinforcing a precedent it will have to uphold, whether the Congress is in Republican or Democratic hands, of providing materials in pending or closed cases to the legislative branch upon request,” the letter says. “As the attacks on the Special Counsel intensify, it is imperative that you withstand pressure on DOJ and FBI to violate established procedures and norms. Your role in preserving the integrity of the Special Counsel’s investigation and, most importantly, our justice system has become even more vital.”

Th group of Democrats said documents should not be shared with members of Congress beyond the so-called Gang of Eight — the bipartisan group of lawmakers briefed on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch.

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Republican lawmakers continue to call for more detailed information. A House debate to pass a resolution calling on the Department of Justice to provide documents to Congress was underway Thursday morning as Rosenstein and Wray headed to the Hill to testify.

President Donald Trump, who has long dubbed the Russia investigation a “witch hunt,” attacked special counsel Robert Mueller by name on Thursday morning, demanding in a tweet that he list his “conflicts of interest." Mueller is a Republican, but Trump has complained that other members of his team are Democrats.

“Unfortunately, DOJ and FBI are increasingly bowing to this pressure, despite the corrosive implications," the Democratic lawmakers' letter said. "Unlike the Clinton investigation, your agencies are disclosing sensitive material to Congress even though the Russia investigation is ongoing under the leadership of the Special Counsel and your oversight. And given the pending nature of the Special Counsel’s investigation, these persistent and unrelenting document requests are not for legitimate oversight purposes.”

The letter writers warned that sharing information beyond the eight lawmakers would likely result in future demands for information.

“Time and again, sensitive information shared with Congress has been selectively and misleadingly seeded into the public domain to advance the President and his legal team’s strategy of undermining public trust in DOJ and the FBI and attacking the legitimacy of the Special Counsel and his ongoing investigation," they wrote. "Every such disclosure to Congress, moreover, has and will continue to result in demands for more information about the ongoing investigation, which the Department and the Bureau will be unable to satisfy without further contravening its own policies and norms."

