United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government

Select committee
United States House of Representatives 118th Congress
History
Formed	January 10, 2023
Leadership
Chair	Jim Jordan (R) Since January 10, 2023
Structure
Seats	15
Political parties	Majority (9)   Republican (9) Minority (6)   Democratic (6)
Jurisdiction
Purpose	To investigate the executive branch's authority to investigate U.S. citizens and gather information, as well as its ability to obtain information from or shared with the private sector.
Senate counterpart	None

The United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government is a select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee created by the House on January 10, 2023. Established to investigate alleged abuses of federal authority, including collusion between federal agencies and private sector entities to suppress conservative viewpoints, the committee has broad authority to subpoena law enforcement and national security agencies, including with regard to ongoing criminal investigations. The subcommittee is chaired by Representative Jim Jordan, who also chairs the Judiciary Committee.

Background and creation

Republicans have asserted for many years that various law enforcement agencies have treated Donald Trump unfairly. After his presidency, Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence was searched by the FBI as part of an investigation into presidential documents he had removed from the White House but declined to return under subpoena. The Republican Party widely criticized both the search and the investigation, with current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeting on August 9, 2022, "When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned." As part of his concessions during his eventual, after 15 ballots, successful bid to become Speaker of the 118th Congress, McCarthy promised members of the Republican Freedom Caucus to create a subcommittee to investigate actions taken by federal agencies and the Biden administration. Representative Dan Bishop made it a key concession McCarthy would need to make in exchange for his vote during the Speaker elections.

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the Select Subcommittee.

Several Republicans have raised concerns regarding their perceived censorship of Republican figures on Big Tech platforms. In the months leading up to the 2022 congressional elections, Jordan made multiple appearances on Fox News and Newsmax, accusing content moderation systems at Big Tech companies to be biased and praised the Twitter Files, a series of documents detailing alleged collusion between Twitter and the federal government. In December 2022, Jordan wrote a letter to five of the largest tech companies, demanding they hand over correspondence between the Biden administration and their respective companies.

In a 221–211 vote on January 10, 2023, the House passed House Resolution 12, "Establishing a Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government as a select investigative subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary". The subcommittee will have the power to issue subpoenas and access to sensitive national security information available to the House Intelligence Committee. According to The Washington Post, Democrats are not planning to boycott the Subcommittee, as the Republicans did with the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack after Nancy Pelosi rejected the appointment of Republicans Jim Jordan and Jim Banks.

Members, 118th Congress

Majority	Minority
Jim Jordan, Chair, Ohio Darrell Issa, California Thomas Massie, Kentucky Chris Stewart, Utah Elise Stefanik, New York Mike Johnson, Louisiana Chip Roy, Texas Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota Greg Steube, Florida Dan Bishop, North Carolina Kat Cammack, Florida Harriet Hageman, Wyoming	TBD

Reactions

Republicans have compared the Subcommittee to the 1975 Church Committee formed by Democrats to investigate the abuse of civil liberties by American intelligence agencies.

Members of the Democratic caucus have referred to it as the "tin foil hat committee". Democratic member Jerry Nadler said the subcommittee is "fueled by conspiracy theories and slated to be run by the most extreme members of the MAGA caucus," unlike the Church Committee which he said was "a serious and bipartisan attempt to reform the conduct of the intelligence community, based on hard and verifiable evidence."

Progressive "Squad" House members called the committee the "Insurrection Protection Committee" and "a fascist power grab to evade accountability".

Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin said in response to the formation of the subcommittee that the Republicans are "at risk of congressional overreach" and Democrats in general are concerned about the wide mandate given to the subcommittee.

Developments

Chairman Jordan sent letters to multiple Biden Administration officials from Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education, including Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray on January 17, 2023, that before Republicans took control of the House, they had asked the DOJ and FBI for information and documents but had not received them, but "this stonewalling must stop" now that Republicans control committees. The subcommittee was authorized to subpoena materials related to ongoing criminal investigations. In response to Jordan's letter, the DOJ wrote "longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations." The DOJ cited a 1982 directive by President Ronald Reagan that the DOJ would try to cooperate with congressional oversight requests but reserved the right of executive privilege and would invoke it "only in the most compelling circumstances."