House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday night officially requesting a second Special Counsel investigation to look into FISA abuse, political bias and other matters at the Department of Justice and FBI.
"Matters have arisen - both recently and otherwise - which necessitate the appointment of a Special Counsel. We do not make this observation and attendant request lightly. We have tremendous respect for the women and men of federal law enforcement and federal prosecution," the letter states. "Some have been reluctant to call for the appointment of a Special Counsel because such an appointment should be reserved for those unusual cases where existing investigative and prosecutorial entities cannot adequately discharge those duties. We believe this is just such a case."
"Accordingly, we request that you appoint a Special Counsel to review decisions made and not made by the Department of Justice and the FBI in 2016 and 2017, including but not limited to evidence of bias by any employee or agent of the DOJ, FBI, or other agencies involved in the investigation; the decisions to charge or not charge and whether those decisions were made consistent with the applicable facts, the applicable law, and traditional investigative and prosecutorial policies and procedures; and whether the FISA process employed in the fall of 2016 was appropriate and devoid of extraneous influence," the letter continues.
During an interview about the request on Fox News' Special Report, Gowdy and Goodlatte explained a Special Counsel is necessary due to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz having limited jurisdiction to investigate the matters in question.
During the interview, Gowdy noted the Department of Justice and Attorney General Sessions don't have an obligation to issue a response to the request.
Last week Sessions announced the Department of Justice is investigating FISA abuses internally. Inspector General Horowitz is expected to release an independent investigation of the matter, in addition to whether political bias at the FBI impacted the criminal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, any day now.
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