Press Releases

Today, all House Judiciary Committee Democrats sent a letter to Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana J. Boente, asking the Department of Justice to address the accuracy of assertions made by President Trump accusing President Obama of wiretapping his phones prior to the election—in the wake of widespread reports that FBI Director Comey had asked DOJ to reject such claims.  Judiciary Democrats also asked the Department to provide information about possibly improper contacts between the White House and DOJ concerning efforts by the Russian government to unlawfully influence the U.S. presidential election in favor of Mr. Trump.  A similar letter has been sent to White House Counsel Donald McGahn.

“Today, it was reported that Director Comey was “incredulous” at the President’s claim.  We call on the White House Counsel to tell us about their contact with DOJ and we ask the Acting Deputy Attorney General to set the record straight about the facts of any inquiry,” said Ranking Member Conyers.   “Given Attorney General Sessions’s recent decision to recuse himself from the Russian influence investigation, we have directed the letter to the Acting Deputy Attorney General.  It would be highly inappropriate to say the least if the Attorney General was involved in any decision to not respond to the FBI Director’s request. President Trump’s irresponsible and baseless tweet over the weekend charging that President Obama wire-tapped Trump have led to troubling reports of efforts by the White House Counsel to contact the Department of Justice about investigations and reported requests by the FBI Director that the Justice Department refute Trump’s assertion.”  

Both letters were signed by every Democratic member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, including: Representatives John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Karen Bass (D-CA), Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), David Cicilline (D-RI), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Brad Schneider (D-IL). 

Full text of the letter to the Department of Justice is available here.

Full text of the letter to White Counsel McGahn is available here.