Senior counsel for the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month urged Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to pursue contempt of Congress citations against the FBI and Justice Department for failing to turn over key documents and an FBI witness in the probe over whether the Obama White House used the unsubstantiated "Trump Dossier" to surveil Trump associates, Fox News Channel reports.
"After eight months of ongoing verbal, written and subpoenaed requests — and engagement by Committee and House leadership at the highest levels — DOJ, FBI continues to impede the Committee's legitimate investigative efforts and hinders the Committee's ability to conduct oversight," wrote Kash Patel in the internal memo obtained by Fox News.
"Staff therefore recommends further congressional compliance actions," the memo continued. Sources told Fox News the latter phrase was code for contempt citation, Fox News' James Rosen reported Wednesday on "Special Report."
"We are trying to work with DOJ and the FBI," Nunes told Fox News. "We hope that they will comply, but if they don't, they leave us very few options. We sent subpoenas out in June, July, and August that still haven't been complied with. So, I think stonewalling would be putting it lightly."
The dossier, which Trump has said is a fraud, contains salacious stories as well as claims Russia attempted for years to cultivate Trump. It also claims members of his campaign staff had met with members of the Russian government.
The information is mostly human intelligence, or information obtained by talking to individuals, which may or may not be verifiable.
The Justice Department denied it has been uncooperative, Fox reported, saying the department's actions have been "consistent with national security and law enforcement responsibilities," Rosen said.