Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called the subpoena "defective." | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Dems say House GOP subpoena for Rosenstein is ‘defective’

House Republicans are preparing to ratchet up their confrontation with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department this week — but Democrats say a procedural snag may delay the inevitable clash.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say the panel's chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), failed to properly notify them about the specific documents he demanded from the Justice Department when he issued a subpoena on March 22. If House parliamentarians agree, Goodlatte would need to reissue the subpoena.


"Because you did not provide me with a copy of the subpoena that actually issued, the subpoena that you eventually issued would be unenforceable as a matter of law," top Judiciary Committee Democrat Jerry Nadler said in a letter to Goodlatte obtained by POLITICO. He called the subpoena "defective" and said Goodlatte should consider a more bipartisan approach.

A House Judiciary Committee aide said that the proper procedures for consultation were followed. “A valid subpoena was issued and we are working with the Justice Department to ensure their compliance,” said the aide, who criticized Democrats for “blocking transparency.”

But House parliamentarians agreed with Nadler's interpretation, according to a Democratic aide.

Democrats have long argued that the GOP demand for documents was part of a cynical attempt by President Donald Trump's House allies to undercut Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia.

Republicans have countered that they have a legitimate responsibility to oversee the Justice Department and have raised concerns about whether political bias infected the FBI's initial Russia probe as well as the bureau's 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server.

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House Republicans had set the stage for a climactic moment in their ongoing confrontation with Rosenstein. House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said Sunday that there would be "action on the floor of the House this week if the FBI and DOJ do not comply with our subpoena request." House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who has demanded a different set of documents, said Sunday there would be "hell to pay" if the Justice Department failed to comply this week.

Speaker Paul Ryan, who has endorsed his chairmen's document demands, said he intends to "regroup" with Goodlatte, Nunes and Gowdy on Friday to decide the next steps. He declined to rule out holding Rosenstein in contempt of Congress, as some Trump allies in the House have demanded.

"I'm concerned that they've been dragging their feet," Ryan told reporters Thursday morning. "They could've spared the country a whole lot of drama if they complied with these document requests when they were made in the first place."

But if Democrats succeed in delaying the enforcement of Goodlatte's subpoena, it could force the conflict at least into next week, if not later. The House is set to leave for a Fourth of July recess the following week.

At issue is a quirk of Judiciary Committee rules. Under the panel's procedures, Republicans must consult with their Democratic counterparts at least two days prior to issuing a subpoena. Though Goodlatte did confer with Nadler on March 19, Democrats say he ultimately subpoenaed a different set of documents than the one he discussed with Democrats.

"The subpoena you issued on March 22 is substantively and materially different than the document you shared with me on March 19," the New York Democrat wrote. "The subpoena requests nine categories of information, not 15. It is also significantly different in scope than the document you shared with me at our meeting."

According to committee records, the document request Goodlatte initially shared with Democrats included 15 categories of documents, including all communications from former FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe between Jan. 1, 2016 and Nov. 8, 2016. It also included a request for any documents pertaining to FBI surveillance of Clinton or her associates.

The subpoena Goodlatte ultimately issued, though, sought a broader range of documents, including a request for potential FBI surveillance records related to the Clinton Foundation.

The House Judiciary Committee aide said that when the final subpoena was issued, several items were “combined into one because the documents in question were all in the possession of the Inspector General and therefore there was no reason to break those requests down individually, so the content was the same.“

Trump's closest allies in the House have called for Rosenstein to be held in contempt of Congress — a step that was taken for the first time against President Barack Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder — or even impeached. The Justice Department has rejected charges of foot-dragging and described an unprecedented effort to share sensitive documents with Congress.