Congress wants information, but the Justice Department is keeping its mouth shut, according to a Wednesday story in The Hill.
The dispute centers on a request from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) for the DOJ to provide information to the Government Accountability Office about personnel vacancies at the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
The DOJ has declined to turn over the data, citing a 1988 Office of Legal Counsel opinion that states that Congress, and not the GAO, has access to intelligence-related information.
Grassley isn’t alone in his frustration with Justice, according to the newspaper. The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) told The Hill the Justice Department has refused to cooperate with him on information about closing the Guantánamo Bay military prison, on allegations of criminal misconduct by the activist group ACORN, and on the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case.
But House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) backed the administration. “I’ve known Eric Holder for years. I don’t have any problems with him at all,” Conyers told the Hill. “We stopped having lunches, because the access is really not a problem.”
Read the whole story here.
