Government Oversight
To advance its legislative agenda, the Judiciary Committee conducts regular oversight of the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other government agencies. The Committee is also responsible for determining whether to recommend articles of impeachment against federal officials. In 2019, the Committee advanced two articles of impeachment against Donald J. Trump to the House of Representatives.
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Yesterday, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the House Judiciary Committee's majority alleged that newly-released FBI interview notes "raise serious questions about whether Undersecretary of State Patrick Kennedy violated federal laws . . . by offering a 'quid pro quo' to the FBI." The interview notes contain no factual basis for these claims:
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As early as January 2016, the Inspector General for the Department of State concluded that there was no undue or inappropriate influence in the review and classification of Secretary Clinton's emails.
Detroit, MI – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to collect data on the use of force by law enforcement officers:
Washington, D.C. (Oct. 14, 2016)-Today, Reps. Elijah E. Cummings, John Conyers, Jr., Eliot L. Engel, and Bennie G. Thompson, the Ranking Members of the House Committees on Oversight and Government Reform, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and Homeland Security, issued the following statement in response to evidence that the Trump campaign apparently knew months beforehand about the hacking of emails from the account of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta:
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States constituted the deadliest foreign attack on American soil in our Nation's history.
Their impact has been immeasurable as evidenced by the fact that we are still grappling with their cultural and policy implications.
And, 15 years later, their powerful emotional effect on Americans remains as strong as ever.
Those who lost loved ones or were injured as a result of this horrific attack deserve our deepest sympathy and our help.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Director Comey, for your appearance here today.
The FBI's mission is a complex undertaking: to protect the United States from terrorism, to enforce our criminal laws, and to lead the nation's law enforcement community.
That mission ought to mirror our own priorities in this Committee.
In the past few days, for example, we have witnessed near-fatal terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey.
I want to preface my remarks regarding today's hearing, which deals with community policing policies, by observing that our Nation's conscience continues to be rocked by a series of tragic events involving law enforcement and the loss of too many black lives.
In our court rooms, in our streets and on our televisions, we confront a never ending body count. Earlier this summer, my Congressional colleagues and I staged an unprecedented sit-in – just to try to get a vote on common sense gun legislation.