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Rosenstein Says Justice Department Providing Congress Documents

Rosenstein Says Justice Department Providing Congress Documents

(Bloomberg) -- The FBI “is making unprecedented disclosures” to Congress, including “granting access to hundreds of thousands of pages of investigative information, and thousands of pages of classified documents,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers Thursday.

Rosenstein testified before the House Judiciary Committee amid demands from House Republicans to hand over sensitive documents related to the origin of the bureau’s investigation into whether President Donald Trump or his associates helped Russia interfere in the 2016 election. Rosenstein spoke as the House was poised to vote on a Republican-backed resolution demanding that he turn over all requested documents by July 6.

“I understand that some people still state concerns about the speed of the production, but those concerns are mistaken,” Rosenstein said. “Most requests have been fulfilled, and other document productions are in progress.”

He said that “Trump administration officials are meeting and talking with committee staff every day and working overtime with teams of FBI employees to accommodate requests and produce relevant information.”

House Republicans have pushed for documents that they say will show anti-Trump bias tainted the early stages of the continuing investigation into Russian meddling. Democrats counter that Republicans are simply trying to undermine the probe now being run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia sought to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton and ultimately help Republican Trump win the presidency. Trump has called the continuing probe a “witch hunt.” In a tweet on Thursday, he said, “Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election!”

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net;Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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