House Republicans file articles of impeachment against Rod Rosenstein

July 25 (UPI) -- A group of House Republicans introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Wednesday.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., announced on Twitter that he, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and nine co-sponsors filed a resolution accusing Rosenstein of withholding documents and making misleading statements to Congress to obstruct congressional oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"The [Department of Justice] has continued to hide information from Congress and repeatedly obstructed oversight -- even defying multiple congressional subpoenas," he wrote. "We have had enough."

Meadows and Jordan issued a statement saying "evidence continues to mount regarding the Department of Justice's problematic decision-making during the 2016 campaign and conduct surrounding the transition to President [Donald] Trump's administration in 2017."

"The failures cited within the articles include intentionally withholding embarrassing documents and information, knowingly hiding material investigative information from Congress, various abuses of the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] process, and failure to comply with Congressional subpoenas, among others," they said.

The Republicans also alleged Rosenstein is a witness who could be called into an investigation into potential abuse because he signed off on an FBI surveillance renewal application to wiretap former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and therefore has a conflict of interest in the Mueller investigation, The Hill reported.

"As such, his conduct in authorizing the FISA surveillance at issue in the joint congressional investigation makes him a fact witness central to the ongoing investigation of potential FISA abuse," the articles of impeachment stated. "Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein's failure to recuse himself in light of this inherent conflict of interest and failure to recommend the appointment of a second Special Counsel constitute dereliction of duty. Wherefore, Rod Rosenstein, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office."

Department of Justice officials detailed their efforts to comply with Congress' document requests before the meeting Wednesday, noting giving lawmakers access to 880,000 pages they've requested and continuing to accept requests for new information related to House GOP probes.

In the statement Meadows said lawmakers' complaints had been ignored for too long and it was time to remove Rosenstein from the position of deputy attorney general.

"For nine months we've warned them consequences were coming, and for nine months we've heard the same excuses backed up by the same unacceptable conduct. Time is up and the consequences are here. It's time to find a new deputy attorney general who is serious about accountability and transparency," he said.