The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government being formulated by the Republican-led House would have the authority to oversee "ongoing criminal investigations," including those focused on former President Donald Trump. It would also have access to classified information available to the House Intelligence Committee.
It is likely the committee will be conducting oversight over the investigations into Trump, reviewing those probes amid some concerns that the Biden administration has weaponized the government against its chief political rival.
Biden has not officially announced his 2024 intention to run for reelection, but Trump, who lost to Biden in 2020 amid allegations of voter fraud, said in November he'll be running.
Justice Department investigations into Trump have special counsel Jack Smith looking at such things as the handling of presidential documents that led to the August 2022 raid on Trump's private residence at Mar-a-Lago. Trump is also being probed over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, with critics accusing him of inciting supporters to storm the landmark to disrupt congressional certification of Biden's election.
Also of note is the investigation into a phone call in which Trump has been accused of encouraging Georgia officials to commit voter fraud to swing the battleground state his way in the presidential race.
Trump and his allies have dismissed the probes as all arising from political vendettas rather than anything substantive.
The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is expected to oversee the weaponization subcommittee, which would be empowered to look at the conduct of those probes and more.
Jordan's subcommittee will also look into the Twitter Files — documentation released at the behest of Twitter CEO Elon Musk that purports to show that the FBI was the point of entry for myriad government agencies influencing the flow of information at Twitter. Biden critics have suggested that Twitter engaged in shadow banning and outright censorship of leading conservative voices and presidential enemies at the administration's direction.
Jordan sent more than 100 letters to the DOJ and FBI, even before the 118th House GOP majority was seated, The Hill reported.
House speaker negotiations that led to Kevin McCarthy's election a speaker reportedly got the language of the committee to include "ongoing criminal investigations."
That could help Republicans do a deep dive on another matter — the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants — to see if bias has tinged the proceedings.
Access by the 13-member subcommittee to the House Intelligence Committee information was added as a part of the late-night Friday negotiations, according to the report.
"We got more resources, more specificity, more power to go after this recalcitrant Biden administration," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Monday.
There will be five Democrats on the panel, according to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
House Judiciary Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is reportedly upset Republicans are turning the tables on Democrat-led Jan. 6 narratives, calling the turnabout "reckless partisan exercise fueled by conspiracy theories."
"Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy claim to be investigating the weaponization of the federal government when, in fact, this new select committee is the weapon itself," Nadler said in a statement, according to The Hill.
"It is specifically designed to inject extremist politics into our justice system and shield the MAGA movement from the legal consequences of their actions."
Democrats objected to the potential participation of Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., on the committee, but in another turnaround from the last Congress, Perry says Democrats cannot block him this time.
"Why should I be limited — why should anybody be limited — just because someone has made an accusation?" Perry said on ABC's "This Week." He was referring to the FBI once taking his cellphone and digging into his efforts to investigate election fraud as a member of Congress.
"So, should everybody in Congress that disagrees with somebody be barred from doing the oversight and investigative powers that Congress has? That's our charge.
"And again, that's appropriate for every single member, regardless of what accusations are made. I get accused of things every single day, as does every member that serves in the public eye."