Justice Department signals to House Republicans agency won’t share info on criminal investigations

The Justice Department is signaling to House Republicans that it's unlikely to comply with their requests for information into criminal investigations, citing longstanding federal policy regarding such inquiries.

The Office of the Assistant Attorney General said in a letter this week to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan regarding the Ohio Republican's requests to "interview Department officials" and that "as a matter of longstanding policy and practice, the department refrains from making line agents and line attorneys available for congressional testimony or interviews."

The letter further noted that the department refrains from either "confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations."

The preemptive denial of certain oversight requests likely signals upcoming tension between the Biden administration's Justice Department and House Republicans, who are moving forward on vows to launch numerous oversight investigations into the federal government as part of their new control of the lower chamber.