Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) this week sponsored a resolution calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate alleged misconduct at the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The “sense of Congress” calls for an investigation by a special counsel into alleged “abuse of the FISA warrant process, how and why the Hillary Clinton probe ended, and how and why the Donald Trump-Russia probe began.”
Zeldin and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina led a group of conservative House Republicans announcing the “sense of Congress” resolution at a news conference at the Capitol Tuesday.
“While many in the media and the American public have been trying to bring down the president without evidence that President Trump colluded with Russia to win the election, there is a ton of actual evidence of real misconduct that those same people have been attempting to completely sweep under the rug,” Zeldin said.
“In just the past few days, we learned that the DOJ, FBI or both appear to have planted at least one person into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to infiltrate and surveil the campaign,” Zeldin said Tuesday.
“This action alone reminds us of just how necessary this resolution is as well as the appointment of a second special counsel,” he said.
Zeldin announced the measure a day after President Trump demanded that the DOJ investigate whether the FBI and DOJ infiltrated or surveilled his campaign “for political purposes.”
The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where the Republican majority has already asked asked Sessions to appoint a second special counsel.
Sessions so far has refused. In March, Sessions said he was assigning the U.S. Attorney for Utah, John Huber to look into the claims. Huber is being assisted by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Sessions said.
Democrats assailed the Republicans’ calls for a second special counsel as an attempt to distract from or undermine the ongoing investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in an effort to protect the president.
Zeldin’s 12-page resolution, originally cosponsored 25 representatives including 15 members of the House Freedom Caucus chaired by Meadows, recites a litany of allegations that raise “serious concerns about egregious misconduct within the DOJ and FBI rooted in political bias”.
In remarks announcing the resolution [see video], Zeldin criticized the way the FBI handled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state, which he said violated federal law as well as state department rules, regulations and protocol. He said there is “significant evidence” that Clinton used the private server to avoid compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and obstruct justice.
The congressman criticized former FBI Director James Comey for being “prepared to exonerate” Clinton before interviewing key witnesses and Clinton herself and months before Comey he decided not to recommend criminal charges.
Zeldin’s resolution also alleges that Foreign Surveillance Act warrant applications were obtained during the election to surveil U.S. citizens, including Trump campaign aide Carter Page, were “deeply flawed and questionable.” It says the government obtained the warrants on the basis of “illicit sources and politically biased intelligence.”
It further alleges that the Mueller investigation has produced no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
“The initial FBI probe into the Trump Campaign and alleged collusion with Russia was launched in July 2016, based on questionable and insufficient intelligence and biased motivations,” Zeldin said Tuesday.
He complained that the DOJ has refused Congressional requests to turn over documents in its investigation.
“Providing Members of Congress with heavily redacted versions of some but not all of the documents demanded and offering members limited in-person viewing of these documents is an inadequate response to repeated requests after months of delay by the DOJ,” Zeldin said.
The fate of the Zeldin resolution in the House remains unclear. Speaker Paul Ryan has so far said he is satisfied with the DOJ’s internal probe. House Republicans this week called on the speaker to bring the Zeldin resolution to the floor for a vote.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
