Name: Weaponization of Government Panel Will Investigate ‘Signature Abuse of Our Time,’ Say GOP Members
Uploaded: 2023-01-27T20:28:51.000Z
Description: Operating with a broad mandate, Republican members of the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government told The Epoch Times that they will investigate any area where the federal government has abused its power and violated the rights of citizens.

NTD Newsroom comprises teams of reporters, editors, and producers assigned to cover breaking news and other stories.


NTD Newsroom

NTD Plus

News

News you can trust from the U.S. and around the world. Critical information and insight. We cover the stories that others don’t. NTD News Today airs Monday–Friday at 11 a.m. ET.

NTD News Today

Melania Trump Helps Reunite More War-Separated Children

Trump Considers Temporarily Withdrawing Blanche's Attorney General Nomination

DOJ Files First Case in Alien Terrorist Removal Court

Shell Profit More Than Doubles as Iran War Lifts Oil Prices

Reuters is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages.

Reuters

Business News

US Economic Growth Slows in Second Quarter, but Domestic Demand Remains Robust

Wednesday Is National Chicken Wing Day

Pet Photographer of the Year Finalists Unveiled

Stefania Cox is an NTD News anchor and national correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Stefania anchors "NTD Newsroom," and co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.

Stefania Cox

Dr. Fauci’s Diary Is Something Everyone Should Read: Analyst

Wisconsin Gubernatorial Race Sees Democratic Socialist Candidate Draw Controversy

Prosecutors Cite Overwhelming Evidence in Charlie Kirk Murder Case

Paul Greaney is an NTD news anchor and producer. Since joining the company in 2018, he has anchored the station’s flagship Evening News broadcast, launched the NTD Business show, and produced documentary reports on pointed issues. 

The highlight of Paul’s time in the field was his coverage of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Paul Greaney

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 30)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 29)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 28)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 27)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 24)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 22)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 21)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 20)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 17)

NTD News Today Full Broadcast (July 16)

Tom Gantert is a reporter for The Epoch Times.

Tom Gantert

Melina Wisecup is NTD's congressional correspondent based in Washington, covering Capitol Hill and campaign politics.

Melina Wisecup

US News

Politics

Executive Branch

Trump Uses Recent Speeches to Warn Americans of Resurging Communism

Juliet Song is an international correspondent exclusively covering China news for NTD. She primarily contributes to NTD's "China in Focus," covering U.S.-China relations, the Chinese regime's human rights abuses, and domestic unrest inside China.

Juliet Song

Shows

Fast, compelling, first-hand news from China. China in Focus airs Monday–Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET.

China in Focus

2.8 Million People in China Evacuated Amid Typhoon Bavi

Breaking news and in-depth analysis from the United States and beyond. We bring you the latest updates, exclusive insights, and sharp discussions on the most pressing issues. NTD Newsroom airs Monday–Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET.

US Announces Visa Restrictions Targeting Cybercriminals

NTD Movies

NTD+ Movies

The Unrestricted War

Joseph Lord is a congressional reporter for The Epoch Times.


Joseph Lord

Congress

House Passes Legislation to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

Troy Myers is a regional reporter based in St. Augustine, Florida. His background includes breaking, criminal justice, and investigative writing for local news, producing on a national morning newscast in Washington, D.C., and working with an award-winning, weekly investigative news program. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his dog at the beach.

Troy Myers

Jason Perry is an Army veteran and NTD's national security correspondent. Jason primarily covers border security, national defense, foreign wars, and veterans' issues.

Jason Perry

Courts

Appeals Court Upholds Block on Trump Order to Tighten Mail-In Voting, Citizenship Verification

The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. 

The Associated Press

Sen. Lindsey Graham Likely Died After Aorta Tear, Medical Examiner Says

Mary Man is a writer for NTD. She has traveled around the world covering China, international news, and arts and culture.

Mary Man

China News

China Floods: Thousands at Risk After Multiple Dams Collapse in Guangxi

Bringing you the latest videos, livestreams, and premieres.


NTD Videos

Label

Live

NTD+ Live

Trump Makes an Announcement on Freedom Hauler in the White House

Jackson Richman is a Washington correspondent for The Epoch Times. In addition to Washington politics, he covers the intersection of politics and sports/sports and culture. He previously was a writer at Mediaite and Washington correspondent at Jewish News Syndicate. His writing has also appeared in The Washington Examiner. He is an alum of George Washington University.

Jackson Richman

House Passes Defense Policy Bill That Attaches SAVE America Act

John Ransom is a freelance reporter covering U.S. news for The Epoch Times with offices in Washington, D.C., and Asia.


John Ransom

Operating with a broad mandate, Republican members of the new Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government told The Epoch Times that they will investigate any area where the federal government has abused its power and violated the rights of citizens.

The GOP members of the subcommittee, which is under the House Judiciary Committee, are Reps. Darrell Issa (Calif.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chris Stewart (Utah), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Mike Johnson (La.), Chip Roy (Texas), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), Greg Steube (Fla.), Dan Bishop (N.C.), Kat Cammack (Fla.), and Harriet Hageman (Wyo.).

The select subcommittee will be chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Since its establishment, some Democrats have criticized the panel, calling it a Republican ploy to shield allies from ongoing criminal investigations, such as the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and those into former President Donald Trump.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) derided the panel on the House floor late Jan. 10, calling it “nothing more than a deranged ploy by the MAGA extremists who have hijacked the party and want to use taxpayer money to push their far-right conspiracy nonsense.”

Subcommittee members dismissed these allegations, contending that the panel is focused on government and law enforcement overreach, which one congressman described as “the signature abuse of power of our time,” in much the same way Watergate defined another era.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in Washington on March 8, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)


<h2><strong>Targets</strong></h2>
“I’ve heard them call us the MAGA committee, a tin foil hat committee, etc. etc. I’m disheartened by that,” Rep. Thomas Massie told The Epoch Times.

“In the 10 years that I’ve been here I’ve been able to find Democrat co-sponsors to rein in the spying state and I hope that the Democrats will place some of their members on the subcommittee who are genuine and have been genuine in the past like Zoe Lofgren [D-Calif.] and Ro Khanna [D-Calif.] who co-sponsored legislation that we’ve offered together to make sure that the government isn’t spying on Americans without a warrant,” added Massie.

For now, the subcommittee will specifically look at abuses by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI, the legality of vaccine mandates, disinformation about conservative-sponsored election security laws, and censorship by big tech firms under government pressure, according to subcommittee members.

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks to reporters in Washington in a file image. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The new panel will examine how these abuses happened, how to correct them, and how to make sure the abuses won’t happen again, subcommittee member Rep. Mike Johnson told The Epoch Times.

“Since the beginning of the Biden administration, some federal agencies designed to serve and keep Americans safe have instead been turned against them,” he said.

“This fact is beyond dispute. The Biden administration has used counterterrorism resources against the parents of school children, raided the homes of political opponents, targeted conservative states over their election integrity laws, inflated domestic extremism statistics, and instituted illegal vaccine mandates, just to name a handful of examples,” he added.

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) questions Gordon Sondland, the U.S ambassador to the European Union, during a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Nov. 20, 2019. (Samuel Corum - Pool/Getty Images)


<h2><strong>Russia Collusion Hoax </strong></h2>
For Rep. Chris Stewart, who also serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, his priority is to investigate the now-debunked allegations that the Trump campaign cooperated with Russia in election interference during the 2016 campaign.

“My priorities are really a continuation of the work that we’ve been doing through the Intelligence Committee that highlights and recognizes and roots out the corruption that we’ve seen from leadership in some of our most key agencies that just hasn’t been exposed or held accountable, like it should have been,” Stewart told The Epoch Times.

Stewart, who was a test pilot in the Air Force before being elected to Congress, said he remembers going down to the FBI, being locked in a small room, and reading the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance application (FISA) that the FBI gave to the FISA courts to justify the Russia investigation and thinking, ‘Holy cow! These guys are lying to us.’

“And I remember getting reports from the CIA, about Russian interference in the 2016 elections and knowing that the CIA had released a report that was not honest,” he added.
<h2><strong>Broad Charter</strong></h2>
The members emphasized that the subcommittee isn’t just relegated to investigating specific abuses, like the Russian collusion hoax or specific agencies.

“We have a very broad charter. We’re not limited to [investigating the] DOJ and FBI,” said Massie.

But before the investigations really get pointed in one direction or another, the subcommittee needs to do some preliminary work on what area claims the most priority.

“I think there’s a period of time for plowing up the ground and sowing some seeds and then we’ll need to focus on the most egregious and most credible concerns that we find,” said the representative from Kentucky.

“That’s one of the reasons this is a ‘select’ committee and that the Intel Committee has agreed to share jurisdiction if we have to go into secret or top-secret areas,” he added.

Massie contended that criticism that the panel’s power to investigate “ongoing criminal investigations” would undermine DOJ and FBI probes on foot was not warranted.

“It’s oftentimes a flare that the executive branch tries to send out to keep us from pursuing legitimate investigations,” said Massie.

“The fact that the DOJ and FBI try to use that as an excuse to not submit to the oversight of the branch that created them is just unbelievable,” he added.

Steward agreed, arguing that for a long time, the FBI leadership has avoided taking responsibility for the politicization of the agency. He emphasized that the typical FBI line agents, who do the normal, daily job of investigating crimes in the country do a great job.

“Those who are responsible [for the abuses] are those people on the seventh floor [of the FBI],” said Stewart, adding that the same held true for the DOJ and CIA.

“The problem is that people like that were given power and then they surrounded themselves with people who felt the same way ideologically as they did,” he added.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 26, 2021. (Tal Atzmon/The Epoch Times)


<h2><strong>‘Something Has Gone Terribly Wrong’ </strong></h2>
Rep. Darrell Issa said that the panel’s investigation also represents Congress’ core constitutional responsibility to not only highlight abuses by the federal government, but ensure that the abuses never happen again.

“We know that something has gone terribly wrong in Washington’s conception of governmental power, public accountability, and the American people’s right to have a voice that is both strong and free,” Issa said in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

“The weaponization of the federal government against the American people is the signature abuse of power of our time, and I see no way Congress can look away and not seek due accountability,” he added.

Massie said that in order for the DOJ and FBI to reclaim some credibility with the American people, it’s time for the agencies to stop being political and cooperate with congressional investigators.

“They do have to come clean before they can start that process of reestablishing credibility,” he said.

The FBI declined to specifically comment in response to the lawmakers’ allegations, but a spokesperson said the agency’s work was apolitical.

“The FBI has testified to Congress and responded to letters from legislators on numerous occasions to provide an accurate accounting of how we do our work. The FBI is dedicated to protecting the American people from terrorism, violent crime, cyber threats and other dangers,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Put quite simply: we follow the facts without regard for politics. While outside opinions and criticism often come with the job, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, do things by the book, and speak through our work,” the spokesperson added.

The DOJ and CIA did not return requests for comment by press time.

<em>This article was updated to include a statement from the FBI. </em>

<em>From <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/weaponization-of-government-panel-will-investigate-signature-abuse-of-our-time-say-gop-members_5013369.html">The Epoch Times</a></em>

Videos

04_Top Stories

Latest Clips

Weaponization

Latest and breaking news, documentaries, movies, and lifestyle content on NTD+.
 
Empower your knowledge and elevate your spirit with NTD+, your go-to destination for truthful news, insightful documentaries, and captivating lifestyle content that enriches your life.

Weaponization of Government Panel Will Investigate ‘Signature Abuse of Our Time,’ Say GOP Members

Cary Dunst is the news anchor for NTD Evening News. He is also the co-host of NTD Good Morning.


Cary Dunst

News with integrity, from the United States and around the world. Focused reports and analyses that shed light on major issues the world deserves to know. NTD Evening News airs daily at 6 p.m. ET.

NTD Evening News

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (July 30)

We present news that is truthful and based on facts, outside of the political fog. Instead of focusing on the negative things happening around us, our mission is to give our viewers a good morning with empathetic and uplifting stories. Our aim is to provide an antidote to negativity by shining a light on the best side of people. We speak to inspiring people who positively impact communities, pursue topics that represent our common human values, and will never miss an opportunity to bring you heartwarming stories.

NTD Good Morning

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (July 30)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (July 29)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (July 29)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (July 28)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (July 28)

NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (July 27)

NTD Good Morning Full Broadcast (July 27)

Chris Beers is an NTD News anchor and political correspondent based at the network's global headquarters in New York City. Chris co-anchors "NTD News Today" weekdays at 10:00 am ET.