In the News

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee passed an amendment on Wednesday requesting documents related to former FBI Director James Comey's communications with the Obama administration and journalists.

According to The Washington Post, the amendment guts a resolution of inquiry introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asking for documents related to Comey's firing in May.

The GOP amendment was co-sponsored by Republican Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Mike Johnson (La.).

“In my district, my constituents say, ‘Hey, what’s going on with investigation of the crimes of the previous administration?’” Biggs said, according to the Post. “When I hear talk that this contains right-wing conspiracies – well, I’ll tell you, my constituents think what’s going on in the other bill are left-wing conspiracy theories.”

Jayapal accused committee Republicans of abdicating their responsibility to hold Trump to account and using the resolution to push "right-wing conspiracy theories."

"They gutted our resolution of inquiry into the firing of James Comey by – literally – trying to erase any discussion of it from the resolution," she said in a statement. "Instead, they substituted in language from bogus, right-wing conspiracy theories about former officials who currently hold no office."

Democrats and some Republicans have questioned the circumstances under which Comey was abruptly ousted, particularly whether President Trump did so to disrupt the law enforcement investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

Trump appeared to acknowledge himself days after Comey was fired that he considered the Russia probe as part of his decision to oust the FBI director.

The GOP amendment, however, turns the resolution's focus to questions raised by some Republicans and the Trump administration over Comey's handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's email use and the former top cop's alleged "leaks" of memos he authored in which he documented his interactions with Trump.

“They’re not focused on things like the Clinton Foundation functionally selling access to the State Department; they’re not worried about selling uranium to the Russians; they’re not worried about unmasking,” Gaetz said, according to the Post, reportedly referring to the Democrats.