Rep. Bob Goodlatte is preparing to issue an “imminent” subpoena to the Department of Justice to produce documents relating to the 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton. | Zach Gibson/Getty Images GOP close to issuing subpoena for Justice records linked to Clinton probe, lawmaker says

A top House Republican is preparing to subpoena the Justice Department for records gathered by its inspector general in his review of how the FBI handled its 2016 investigation of Hillary Clinton, according to two GOP sources familiar with the congressman’s plans.

Lawmakers have clamored to obtain the 1.2 million documents that the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, has gathered in his investigation, which has already led to the ouster of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on the eve of his retirement. But so far, Republicans have complained that the Justice Department has turned over only a few thousand of the documents.


Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is preparing to issue an “imminent” subpoena to the department to produce the documents, Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) said in an interview. A Republican committee source also confirmed that the subpoena was expected to come soon.

“The actual issuance has not happened yet, but my understanding is it’s imminent,” Ratcliffe said.

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Goodlatte’s office was not immediately available for comment, but the congressman himself hinted at a subpoena over the weekend.

“We need to have those documents,” he told Fox News in an interview that aired on Sunday, adding that “actions are going to have to take a new level here very soon.”

Ratcliffe, a former prosecutor, said the forthcoming subpoena was a reflection of frustration among GOP lawmakers with the pace of cooperation from the Justice Department, which also clashed with Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee over classified intelligence about its decisions to surveil a former Trump campaign aide in 2016 and 2017.

“I cannot think of a good plausible explanation for why we would have received so few documents over a five-month period, even given the importance and scrutiny to which all the documents should receive for redaction of sensitive potential national security information,” Ratcliffe said.

Horowitz has signaled that he’s comfortable with the Justice Department sharing records examined by inspector general investigators with Congress, but top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have complained that they’ve received only a few thousand files.

Ratcliffe said he had been informed in recent days that the inspector general’s final report — hotly anticipated on Capitol Hill — was likely to be delayed because Horowitz is “re-interviewing” some witnesses. Horowitz is examining allegations of misconduct by senior officials at the FBI during the 2016 election, including former Director James Comey. Comey has faced withering criticism on both sides of the aisle for his decisions connected to the Clinton inquiry.

Democrats ripped Comey in 2016 for holding a news conference and criticizing Clinton in July even though he opted against bringing charges against her for her handling of classified information. They later erupted again after Comey briefly reopened the Clinton investigation in late October, only to close it days before the election.

Republicans have also attacked Comey and other senior FBI officials for decisions that they maintain showed the FBI soft-pedaled its investigation into Clinton and exhibited anti-Trump bias.

Horowitz’s office declined to comment on the timing of the report or whether Horowitz’s previous guidance for a “March/April” release remained in effect.

The release of the report could also shed light on Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to fire McCabe late Friday, less than two days before he was set to retire with a full pension. Horowitz’s report is expected to criticize McCabe for a disclosure to the media and for lacking candor when discussing the matter with investigators.

But McCabe, a onetime acting director of the FBI, has contended that the rush to oust him before his departure was driven by politics. He was a target of President Donald Trump’s fury for more than a year because of his role in overseeing the ongoing Russia investigation — and the president also targeted McCabe’s wife, who ran for state Senate in Virginia as a Democrat, because her campaign received money from a PAC connected to a top Clinton ally.

McCabe is one of the small circle of FBI officials who can corroborate Comey’s claim that Trump pressured him to pull back from the FBI’s Russia investigation, particularly as it pertained to former

McCabe’s ouster last week prompted fury from Democrats, who say the timing smacks of political pressure from the White House, even if the “lack of candor” claims against McCabe hold up. Ratcliffe, the Texas congressman, said he understood the concern on timing but thought the process was well insulated from politics.

“Trump may have wanted it. Sessions may have followed it,” he said. “But the recommendation came from nonpartisan career professionals at both the [DOJ] Office of Professional Responsibility and through the office of the inspector general. These are Andrew McCabe’s peers.”

“Is the timing unfortunate?” he continued. “Yeah. I don’t know if that could have been avoided or was manipulated. I don’t know. I guess you could ask the questions, but I don’t know if it’s legitimate because the folks that made the recommendations here should be beyond the control of the White House.”

The Judiciary Committee, in a joint investigation with the House Oversight Committee, has also been bringing in senior FBI officials to grill them about their handling of the Clinton investigation. They interviewed McCabe in December, as well as former FBI chief of staff James Rybicki. But their pace of interviews has frustrated some members of the panel, including conservatives like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has indicated that he wants to bring additional senior officials to the Capitol.

Ratcliffe noted that the Judiciary Committee was “having discussions about the timing and the sequence of additional witnesses.” But he said the interview schedule had been affected by the pace of receiving documents from the Justice Department.

“Chairman Goodlatte [is] ... more than justified to expedite that through subpoenas,” he said.

