Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Howard Berman (D-CA) will head up a special subcommittee to investigate the Foley scandal, the House ethics committee announced, and dodged questions about appointing a special counsel to handle the probe.
The panel “will go wherever the evidence reaches,” Hastings said at a press conference moments ago. The group met for the first time this morning, Hastings said, and sent out nearly 50 subpoenas. Hastings and Berman declined to name the subpoenas’ recipients.
The subject of the panel’s investigation was not clear. Hastings admitted that Foley is no longer under their jurisdiction, having resigned his seat, although he said Foley’s past behavior as “of interest.” The panel would investigate the page program in a broader context, he said.
The panel will wrap up its work in a matter of “weeks, not months,” according to Berman. The two men are chair and ranking member of the House ethics committee.
While the lawmakers comprising the subcommittee have “partisan feelings,” Berman said, “we are going to put those partisan considerations totally aside, as I have seen witnessed from the chairman during the past five and a half months.”
Hastings dodged questions about the Roll Call report that ex-FBI director Louis Freeh would be appointed a special counsel to investigate the scandal.
