Grassley meets Rosenstein amid tensions over probes

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) met with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday as the Judiciary Committee seeks testimony and documents in its probe into former FBI Director James Comey’s firing and Russia’s election interference. 

Grassley told reporters after the nearly hourlong sit-down that the meeting was about “oversight communications and getting updates and stuff like that.” 

As he left Grassley’s office, Rosenstein separately declined to respond to questions about whether the talks included a discussion about the committee’s push to speak with two FBI officials about Comey’s firing. 

{mosads}Grassley has been increasingly frustrated with the Justice Department and intelligence community for withholding information and potential witnesses from the Judiciary Committee’s investigation.

The senator sent Rosenstein a letter on Wednesday about the committee’s request to meet with two senior FBI employees, Carl Ghattas and James Rybicki. 

In the letter, Grassley wrote that the panel wanted to question the two officials on a range of issues including the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, FBI activities tied to President Trump or the Trump campaign, the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and Comey’s firing. 

With Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused from the Russia investigation, which also includes potential contacts between the Trump campaign and Moscow,  Rosenstein is the top DOJ official with oversight of the FBI’s Russia probe. 

Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also sent a letter to CIA Director Mike Pompeo this week asking that he give the Judiciary Committee “the same materials that have been made available to the Senate Intelligence Committee.” 

“Russian interference in the 2016 election — a matter that implicates federal criminal laws, our electoral process, and the administration of justice — is one of those circumstances involving matters squarely within the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction,” Grassley and Feinstein wrote. 

Feinstein, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, is also a member of the Intelligence Committee. 

It’s not the first time the two panels, which are running parallel investigations, have bumped jurisdictional elbows. 

Grassley and Feinstein both warned earlier this year that they were willing to subpoena Comey to appear before their committee after he declined their invitation to testify but appeared before the Intelligence Committee.