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Congressman Biggs Attempts to Subpoena Rod Rosenstein Before House Judiciary Committee

February 7, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Judiciary Democrats took the unprecedented action of granting their Chairman the authority to issue a subpoena to Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker – even though Mr. Whitaker has indicated that he will appear before the committee voluntarily. Mr. Whitaker has only been on the job a little over two months, and a new Attorney General is expected to be confirmed next week, which will end Mr. Whitaker's tenure as Acting Attorney General. In an effort to provide full transparency from all parties, Congressman Biggs introduced an amendment to add Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to this subpoena resolution.

"Just over a month into the new Congress, Judiciary Democrats have wasted no time in launching a partisan attack against the Trump administration. Acting Attorney General Whitaker indicated he would voluntarily comply with the Democrats' request for him to testify before the committee. I opposed this subpoena.

"I introduced an amendment to subpoena Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein because he has long resisted attempts of congressional oversight. Why are Democrats obstructing this subpoena? Why don't they want to find out the truth from Mr. Rosenstein about allegations that he wore a wire around the President, or about the FISA abuse that occurred under his watch? Why don't they want to ensure that Robert Mueller operates his investigation under proper constitutional constraints? Democrats aren't concerned with the truth; they are using this committee to accomplish one thing: undermine and embarrass President Trump and members of his administration. I – and my fellow Republicans – will not stand for these transparent political actions."

Congressman Andy Biggs is a second-term Representative from Arizona's Fifth Congressional District, representing parts of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, and Queen Creek. Congressman Biggs is a member of the House Judiciary and Science, Space, and Technology committees. He lives with his wife, Cindy, in Gilbert.