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A packet of rules House of Representatives of Republican majority adopted in a party-line vote approved the creation of a new “Select Subcommittee on Politicization of the Federal Government” that would have the function of investigating alleged abuses of power for political reasons committed by law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the Republican chairman of the House Rules Committee, said the subcommittee to be led by Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio will be modeled after the Senate Church committee in the 1970s. investigated abuses by the country’s intelligence agencies, such as the CIA.
Cole indicated that “the instrumentalization of the radical left of the federal government in recent years” in the federal government’s law enforcement agencies will be investigated.
Texas Republican Chip Roy said he will take aim against the “weaponization of government against the American people” and that the subcommittee will be headed by Jordan.
These arguments did not convince Democratic lawmakers who think it is about a plot by “MAGA extremists,” as supporters of former President Donald Trump are known, which, according to progressive lawmaker Jim McGovern, have “hijacked” the Republican Party.
McGovern lamented that the committee’s goal is so fuzzy that it’s basically going to be handed over to Republican Jim Jordan, who is expected to lead this panel, the power to “attack anyone or anything you don’t like or what you find to be unconstitutional or illegal.”
Jordan is one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus, which brings together some of the party’s most radical congressmen and supporters of Donald Trump, the same ones who obstructed the election of Republican Kevin McCarthy last week for four days as Speaker of the House.
A spokesperson for Jordan noted that the subcommittee’s proposal is based on a 1,000-page report by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee titled “FBI Whistleblowers: What Their Revelations Indicate About the Politicization of the FBI and the Department of Justice”.
According to US media, the subcommittee, which would report to the House Judiciary Committee, it would have the power to issue subpoenas to compel FBI officials and other agencies to testify and turn over documents.