A group of House Republicans called for the appointment of a second special counsel on Tuesday to look into alleged misconduct at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI, ABC News reports.
Their request for a second special counsel comes just days after President Donald Trump called for an investigation on whether his 2016 presidential campaign was surveilled by an FBI informant.
According to CNN, Rep. Lee Zeldin introduced the 12-page resolution on Tuesday to appoint a second special counsel to investigate alleged misconduct over the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the Russia investigation.
At least 19 House Republicans that have been critical of special counsel Robert Mueller signed the resolution. Zeldin said the resolution was necessary because the DOJ “cannot be expected to investigate itself.”
“While many in the media and the American public have been trying to bring down the President without evidence that President Trump colluded with Russia to win the election, there is a ton of actual evidence of real misconduct that those same people have been attempting to completely sweep under the rug,” Zeldin said at a news conference on the resolution.
Republicans had previously pushed to appoint another special counsel, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions has resisted it, instructing the DOJ inspector general and U.S. Attorney John Huber to investigate the congressional members’ concerns, CNN reports.
According to ABC News, Republicans have pointed to new reports by The Washington Post and The New York Times stating that the FBI had an informant talk to several campaign aides as a reason why a second special counsel is needed.
“It’s a drastic step, but quite frankly these are drastic facts that continue to bubble to the surface and its time that we get a response,” Rep. Mark Meadows said.
Rep. Matt Gaetz called on House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday to put the resolution to a vote on the House floor, CNN reports.
“We need Speaker Ryan to put this resolution on the floor so that the full House of Representatives can answer the question about the legitimacy and the need for a second special counsel to investigate what I perceive to be serious crimes and improprieties of the FBI and the Department of Justice,” Gaetz said.
Trump weighed in on the informant allegation on Tuesday after meeting with FBI Director Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein at the White House on Monday.
“If they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace to this country, that would be one of the biggest insults that anyone’s ever seen, and it would be very illegal,” Trump said.