The Justice Department has begun to provide documents to the House Intelligence Committee this week, following explicit threats by Republican chairmen.
A small cache of documents was given to intelligence panel staff on Tuesday, followed by another tranche on Wednesday, a congressional source told the Washington Examiner.
The exact content of those records was not disclosed, but they came on the heels of tough talk from House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy over the weekend.
The South Carolina Republican said Sunday that House Speaker Paul Ryan led a meeting with senior Justice Department and FBI officials Friday, and claimed he “made it very clear” the House will use “its full arsenal of constitutional weapons to gain compliance” on outstanding subpoenas.
Moments later, in a separate interview, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said there would be “hell to pay” Wednesday morning if the Justice Department hadn’t started to turn over documents.
A Justice Department official told the Washington Examiner that they agreed to “provide a specific documents by Friday or explain why we couldn’t.”
“That process is underway, including delivery of many of the requested documents today,” the official said.
On Sunday, it was not immediately clear which subpoenas or requests Gowdy was referencing.
In March, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte subpoenaed the Justice Department to obtain documents related to the FBI’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server, potential surveillance abuses, and the decision to fire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
The request totals roughly 1.2 million documents.
However, that subpoena is already being handled: FBI Director Christopher Wray announced in late March that he was assigning 54 FBI staffers to oversee the request, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions then tapped the U.S. attorney in Chicago, John Lausch, in April to oversee the production of troves of documents to Goodlatte.
Separately, Gowdy has pushed the Justice Department for classified documents and information related to the Russia investigation alongside Nunes.
Gowdy, Nunes, and other lawmakers have now been briefed twice by the Justice Department and the FBI on those requests, which include documents on a confidential FBI informant used on the Trump campaign.
A source familiar with Friday’s meeting said it was made clear that the Justice Department would need to comply with congressional oversight requests or face retribution by the Republican-led House.
However, no specific options were laid out, the source emphasized.
Trump-aligned House Republicans have floated the idea of impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for what they say is the stonewalling of their efforts to obtain documents about FBI surveillance of Trump campaign members during the 2016 presidential election, as well as documents that could show bias atop the department.
Others, specifically Nunes, have said they could hold Attorney General Jeff Sessions in contempt.
