Meadows Escalates House GOP-DOJ Feud, Requests Audit Of Mueller Probe

on March 20, 2018 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) leaves after the weekly House Republican Conference meeting March 20, 2018 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. House Republicans held their weekly meeting to di... WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 20: U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) leaves after the weekly House Republican Conference meeting March 20, 2018 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. House Republicans held their weekly meeting to discuss GOP agenda. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) plans to escalate the feud between conservative House Republicans and the Justice Department by requesting that a federal financial watchdog audit the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia probe, The Washington Post reported.

Meadows announced his plans during a taping of C-SPANS’s “Newsmakers” show, which is set to air on Sunday, according to the Post. During the taping he claimed the audit is necessary in order to obtain an unredacted version of the August 2017 memo that outlines the scope of the Mueller investigation.

“We believe that the American people need to know what the scope of the investigation [is],” Meadows said Thursday, according to the Post. “Now some would say, ‘Well, you’re getting involved in an ongoing criminal investigation.’ Well, it is an investigation, but the scope of that investigation is not part of the investigation. It just says, we’re going to look at all of this. We believe because we’re funding it that we should be able to look at that scope.”

Meadows plans to direct the audit request at the Government Accountability Office as early as next week, but he is still working on gaining support from other lawmakers, according to the Post.

Meadows is just one of many President Trump loyalists within the House who are irked with deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department overall for refusing to release documents requested by conservative House members related to the Russia probe and other federal investigations, including the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Justice Department officials claim releasing an unredacted version of the scope memo could compromise the Mueller investigation, according to people familiar with the DOJ’s thinking who spoke with the Post.

Read the Post’s full story here. 

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