The House, with its new Republican majority in place, plans to vote this coming week on a resolution to create a special judiciary subcommittee on the "weaponization of the federal government," a topic the GOP has indicated could include reviewing probes into former president Donald Trump, The New York Times reported over the weekend.
This is part of GOP's fulfillment of its promise to its voters for wide-ranging investigations into law enforcement and national security agencies.
The panel would be overseen by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who is also set to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who was a lead negotiator for Republicans who made demands from Kevin McCarthy in order for him to become House speaker, indicated that the creation of the panel was part of the concessions they achieved.
The subcommittee will have, following the passing of the resolution, virtually open-ended jurisdiction to probe any issue connected to civil liberties or to check how any agency of the federal government has gathered, analyzed and used information about Americans — including "ongoing criminal investigations" such as those by the FBI.
Jordan also apparently will have the authority to subpoena the Justice Department for information about the special counsel inquiry into Trump's efforts to halt the certification of the 2020 election due to his claims of fraud, as well as his handling of classified documents.
The New York Times reported that Jordan will also be able to subpoena the Justice Department in connection to other politically charged topics — such as an open tax probe into Hunter Biden, the president's son.
The resolution creating the subcommittee also reportedly gives Jordan's panel the power to receive the same highly classified information that intelligence agencies make available to their oversight committee, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which usually includes some of the most sensitive secrets in the government.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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