Is the FBI too big to fail? Apparently not, according to one of the biggest establishment conservative magazines — and a recent article from it suggests that we may just need to split up the nation’s largest law enforcement bureau.
In a piece published Sunday titled “Maintaining Our Constitutional Order Might Require Splitting Up the FBI,” National Review executive editor Reihan Salam argues in favor of a recent paper that suggests that the FBI’s independence from the president might be problematic and that the bureau might need to be broken up.
National Review, we might remind you, is the magazine that dedicated an entire issue in January 2016 to chronicling why Trump shouldn’t be president and still isn’t terribly jazzed about the nation’s 45th commander in chief. Nevertheless, Salam says that recent events (and a working paper) have made him rethink his position on the president’s control over the bureau.
Walker also notes that an independent FBI isn’t necessary to probe the president.
“First, Congress can investigate suspected criminality by the President or his administration. It has the means and the constitutional responsibility to do so,” the paper reads.
“And second, if one believes that as a general matter federal crime should be investigated by an agency independent of the President, the solution is to split the FBI, reserving its national-security functions for one agency and its criminal investigative functions for another. This is the model that many western democracies have adopted.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Newly available records do not fully comply with congressional House subpoenas, and barring new developments Friday, recent documents from the FBI and Justice Department do not meet deadlines set by a House resolution, according to a source close to the discussions.
Three House Republican committee chairmen, Trey Gowdy on Oversight, Devin Nunes on Intelligence and Bob Goodlatte on Judiciary, requested the records, with one subpoena issued as long ago as August of last year.
The source said House staffers — who reviewed records Thursday at the Justice Department (DOJ) because lawmakers were out of town for the holiday recess — concluded that Justice and the FBI have still not provided information and records about FBI activities before the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections officially opened on July 31 of that year.
“The House Judiciary Committee has been in contact daily with the Justice Department to ensure they produce all the documents subpoenaed by the committee earlier this year,” a Republican House Judiciary Committee aide said. “The Justice Department has produced more documents over the past weeks and has requested more time to produce additional documents. This request seems to be reasonable, and we expect the department to comply with the terms of the subpoena.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]The Department of Justice sent a letter to two House committees on Friday insisting that it has “substantially complied” with their requests for documents and information, and that they are working to address outstanding requests.
The letter comes in response to a resolution passed by GOP-led House at a tense hearing over a week ago “insisting” the department “fully comply” with document requests and subpoenas related to the Clinton email and Trump-Russia investigations by Friday.
“The Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation believe that they have now substantially complied with these House requests, and any residual or ongoing production of materials will be expeditiously completed in coordination with staff members from the appropriate committees,” the letter reads.
The Justice Department also noted that due to the House requests, it has to build and deploy a search tool to look through classified systems. – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [contentcards url=”https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/establishment-gop-waking-up-national-review-split-fbi/” target=”_blank”]