House GOP report shows how it would probe FBI, DOJ

Congressional Republicans on Friday dropped a lengthy report accusing the FBI and Department of Justice of political bias. Led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the group raised grievances about the handling of the FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida, last year’s memo about investigating threats to local school boards, and allegations against the president’s son, Hunter Biden. The report also alleged that the FBI is inflating statistics on domestic violent extremism. The House Republicans’ document could serve as a manual for investigating federal agencies if Republicans regain a majority in the House in next week’s elections.

What do the feds say? The FBI and Department of Justice had not formally responded to the report as of Friday afternoon. In the past, Attorney General Merrick Garland has defended the FBI as impartial. Following the Trump raid, Merrick said attacks against the FBI’s professionalism were unfounded and unfair, that he personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant of Trump’s estate, and that the Justice Department doesn’t make such decisions lightly.

Dig deeper: Read Lynn Vincent’s report in WORLD magazine about whether the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate search signals a new era of American politics.