A top GOP House investigator threatened to call Capitol Police to remove an FBI lawyer from a House office building Friday morning because he was unhappy that a senior FBI agent who appeared for a closed-door interview with the committee was accompanied by both a personal lawyer and an FBI lawyer, according to multiple people familiar with the exchange.
Chan insisted on having both lawyers with him – which Berger said was unsurprising in this instance because Chan has been named in lawsuits stemming from his FBI work on social media. An FBI spokesperson said in a statement that Chan was “denied the right to have his chosen legal counsel accompany him” and then House Committee staff told his FBI lawyer to “leave the premises.”“This is a significant departure from normal procedures and an unnecessary escalation of this Committee’s treatment of FBI officials,” the spokesperson said."The FBI employee remains willing to take part in a voluntary interview with appropriate legal representation.
When the Justice Department instead offered to let the committee interview more senior officials, including U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada, and acting deputy assistant attorney general Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division on a voluntary basis, Jordan balked, people familiar with the situation side — a sign of the building tension.
Dye, the committee spokesman, said it was “completely false” that the committee had turned down interview offers. “We want to hear from every witness we have asked for,” he said.The Justice Department, however, has maintained a long-standing department practice of shielding line attorneys involved with ongoing investigations from Congress, leading to a growing standoff.