EXCLUSIVE — Two Republican House committee chairmen are threatening to subpoena liberal Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb for failing to comply with their investigation into the reasons for his targeting of conservative judicial advocate Leonard Leo.
The Democratic attorney general has been leading an investigation into Leo, the co-chairman of the Federalist Society legal group, after one of his seven nonprofit organizations allegedly paid excessive compensation to one of his for-profit companies. However, Schwalb himself is facing accusations by the conservative Sentinel Action Fund super PAC of using his powers to “intimidate and silence their political opponents.”
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“As we have explained, the circumstances surrounding your investigation create the strong perception that political motivations have led you to weaponize your law-enforcement authority against disfavored people and groups,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY) wrote in a letter to Schwalb.
Jordan and Comer said Monday that Schwalb’s Nov. 13 letter to them, in which Schwalb set forth his reasons for why he couldn’t cooperate with their tangential investigation into an alleged abuse of his power, was “unpersuasive,” motivating them to reiterate their request for Schwalb’s cooperation.
The lawmakers questioned Schwalb’s stated need to “shield potential and pending investigations” when the existence of the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General’s investigation was revealed via a leak to Politico.
The media outlet later reported extensively on the response to the committees minutes after Schwalb transmitted it, according to the GOP letter.
“You cannot hide behind investigative confidentiality to resist Congressional oversight while also tolerating — if not authorizing — politicized leaks that prejudice the course and outcome of your investigation,” the lawmakers said.
Republicans have worked to tie Schwalb to the Arabella Advisors consulting firm, which overlooks a web of left-wing groups — including the Campaign for Accountability, which started as an Arabella project until 2017 and brought the initial IRS complaint against Leo’s network. The complaint alleged that Leo “misused” his network’s nonprofit cash by diverting $73 million to his for-profit companies, BH Group and CRC Advisors, for consulting services between 2016 and 2021.
The lawmakers also pushed back on Schwalb’s citation of existing court precedent to shield his compliance, arguing his “assertion that a pending investigation may impede congressional oversight is also incorrect.”
“In Sinclair v. United States, the Supreme Court noted that the pendency of litigation does not impede Congress’s ability to conduct oversight,” the letter read.
Jordan and Comer are asking Schwalb to provide all responsive materials about his investigation “as soon as possible” but no later than Jan. 2.
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“The Committees are prepared to resort to compulsory process, if necessary, to obtain this material,” they added.
Read the full four-page letter here:
