Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introduced the measure last week — before it was known that special counsel Robert Mueller would be finalizing his investigation. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Congress Judiciary Committee seeks obstruction of justice probe records from DOJ

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation demanding more details from the Justice Department on the obstruction of justice investigation into President Donald Trump.

The straightforward result belied an odd partisan dance that led a Democratic panel to embrace a GOP proposal on one of the most divisive issues in Washington.


Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, introduced the measure last week — before it was known that special counsel Robert Mueller would be finalizing his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Though Mueller’s findings remain secret, Attorney General William Barr indicated Mueller opted not to charge Trump or any associates with conspiring with Russians.

Mueller also explicitly chose to “not exonerate” Trump from an obstruction of justice inquiry, Barr revealed, and Democrats have clamored for Barr to provide the full report to Congress to understand how Mueller arrived at that decision.

Collins’ measure calls for details about the origins of the obstruction probe, which was opened by former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe. The proposal also seeks information about conversations between McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about “wearing a recording device or preparing in any way to record the President.”

"I certainly do not oppose efforts to learn more about whether, in fact, such discussions occurred and, if so, what prompted such alarm among Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. McCabe, as well as other FBI officials, that they would consider these unprecedented actions,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). “Therefore, I will not oppose this resolution.”

Republicans have long argued that McCabe was part of a corrupt group of Justice Department officials who leveraged their investigative powers to undermine Trump, and they have been seeking information about McCabe and Rosenstein’s interactions for months. McCabe was fired from the FBI hours before he was set to retire last year after the inspector general of the Justice Department determined he lied to investigators about his interactions with media.

Collins said his resolution was part of “showing the thinking and actions of the individuals who fueled investigations of President Trump for collusion and obstruction.”

“The path forward requires us to identify the origins of an investigation that deceitfully undermined America’s faith in our democracy and distracted us from our actual enemy,” Collins said.

Collins has backed efforts to reveal more details of the Mueller report and has lately been releasing the transcripts of interviews conducted by lawmakers last year with figures involved in the Russia and obstruction probes.

Democrats have argued the GOP inquiries were really efforts to undermine the investigations into Trump. But following Mueller’s report they sensed a moment to embrace the GOP call for information as part of their broader call for more details from the Justice Department.

“I would not have been supportive of the underlying resolution had the Mueller report not come to a resolution,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.)

In fact, the rare kumbaya moment for the committee followed a staff-level discussion late last week in which Democrats revealed they'd be backing the Collins measure.

According to Republican Committee sources, Collins' office offered to reschedule the motion so that Democrats could add it to the docket of a future markup, since they expected debate on the measure would be brief. Ultimately, Democrats kept the matter on Tuesday's schedule and the measure passed 22-0.