Republican Committee Leaders Call On FBI Brass For Interviews

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., right, go through amendments as the panel meets to craft a Republican bill to expand gun owners' rights, the first gun legisla... House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., right, go through amendments as the panel meets to craft a Republican bill to expand gun owners' rights, the first gun legislation since mass shootings in Las Vegas and Texas killed more than 80 people, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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The chairmen of the House committees on government reform and the judiciary wrote to the Department of Justice on Tuesday demanding that three FBI officials be made available for interviews.

Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Chief of Staff Jim Rybicki and counsel Lisa Page should be available for interviews starting Thursday, the letter said.

Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) (pictured above) and Trey Gowdy (R-SC), the leaders of the Judiciary and Government Reform committees, respectively, wrote: “Among other things, the Committees are investigating the circumstances surrounding the FBI’s decision to publicly announce the investigation into former Secretary Clinton’s handling of classified information, but not to publicly announce the investigation into campaign associates of then-candidate Donald Trump; the FBI’s decision to notify Congress by letter of the status of the investigation both in October and November of 2016; the FBI’s decision to appropriate from DOJ the decision-making authority with respect to charging or not charging former Secretary Clinton; and the FBI’s timeline with respect to charging decisions.” (Read the full letter below.)

Politico, which wrote about the letter Tuesday, reported that some unnamed Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have said that Goodlatte promised to subpoena the officials if they refuse to voluntarily testify.

Republicans recently obtained hundreds of text messages between Page and a now-former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team, Peter Strzok, some of which were critical of Trump (and others of Democratic politicians). Democrats have separately called for an investigation into the release of the text messages.

McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director, testified before the House Intelligence Committee for at least seven hours Tuesday, CNN reported. Some Republicans have charged that he has shown bias in that position because his wife, Jill McCabe, ran for Virginia state senate in 2015 and received financial support from a political action committee associated with then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a Clinton ally.

Read the letter below:

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