Immediately after the midterm, Democrats were reminded of the axiom “Elections have consequences” when Republicans began corresponding with administration offiicals.
Dozens of officials have been notified they will be summoned to Congress for investigations centered around three main conservative concerns. Republicans declared their intent to delve into a suspected conspiracy between the Biden White House and Department of Justice officials to target parents addressing boards of education.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) requested testimony from White House staff members Mary Wall, Julie Rodriguez, Katherine Pantangco and Nezly Silva. The Ohio Republican wants to question them regarding suspected misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources used against parents addressing school boards.
Wall is a White House senior adviser on the COVID-19 Response Team; Rodriguez is President Biden’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs director; Pantangco is a policy adviser for intergovernmental affairs and Silva is a senior policy analyst for intergovernmental affairs.
Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona received correspondence signed by 19 Republican Congress members. The November 18 letter informed Cardona that Republicans wanted three DOE employees to testify about using federal resources to target parents of school children. The three employees whose testimony was requested are Kimberly Watkins-Foote, Larry Bowden and Nicholas Simmons.
Watkins-Foote is the director of DOE’s National Engagement Division; Bowden is a senior advisor to the secretary; and, Simmons is a special assistant in the Office of the Secretary.
House Judiciary Committee members also wrote Department of Homeland Security to provide advance notice of their intent to question 11 DHS employees.
The primary person the committee wants to hear testimony from is DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Committee members also want to hear from Ur M. Jaddou, Tae Johnson, Kerry E. Doyle, Blas Nunez-Neto, Chief Raul L. Ortiz, Jennifer Daskal, Adam Hunter, Jen Easterly, Geoff Hale and Julia Treanor. The first five work with Immigration Services or Border Protection.
Daskal is with the Office of the General Counsel; Hunter is in the Office of Strategy and Plans; Easterly, Hale and Treanor are with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Republicans have excoriated Mayorkas for his department’s response to record surges of illegal aliens across the southern border. They were further distressed when the secretary announced the formation of the department’s Disinformation Governance Board. Now that they are in the majority, the GOP members want to hold his feet to the proverbial fire.
Some House Republicans have already expressed desire to impeach the DHS Secretary, according to a Washington Examiner report.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was also notified by letter that Judiciary Committee Republicans wanted to hear testimony from 15 DOJ employees. The Justice Department employees also want to hear from nine employees with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They will all be asked about the alleged politicization of justice by their agencies in the pursuits of former President Donald Trump.
AG Garland along with with Deputy AG Lisa Monaco and Associate AG Vanita Gupta top the list of employees the committee wants to hear testimony from.
Others include Kenneth Polite Jr., Matthew Olsen, Kristen Clarke, Jonathan Kanter, Brian Boynton, Jacqueline Romero, Mark Wildasin, Matthew Graves, Mark Totten, Susan Hennessey, Margy O’Herron and David Neal.
The FBI agents committee members also want to grill Director Chris Wray and Deputy Director Paul Abbate. Others include Timothy Langan, Jennifer L. Moore, Steven M. D’Antuono, Carlton L. Peeples, Kevin Vorndran, Laura Dehmlow and Elvis Chan. All hold managerial positions with the exception of Chan who is an agent with the San Francisco field office.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.
