The House of Representatives agreed to include, as part of its new rules package, a subcommittee to evaluate how the Executive Branch investigates and collects information on citizens and whether it has abused its authority to do so.
The commission will be led by Republican legislator Jim Jordan, but will also include Democrat Jerrold Nadler and 13 other members from both parties.
The purpose of the investigation will be to determine "how executive branch agencies collect, compile, analyze, use, or disseminate information about citizens of the United States, including any unconstitutional, illegal, or unethical activities committed against citizens of the United States," the resolution states.
It will also evaluate the mechanism used by the executive branch to obtain and provide information on citizens with other agencies, including the private sector.
House Republicans just established two critical and powerful tools:
✅ Select Committee on the CCP
✅ Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal GovernmentAccountability and oversight are coming.
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) January 10, 2023
Presentation of the final report
According to the resolution, all the results of the investigation must be delivered in the form of a final report by the second day of January 2025.
"House Republicans are committed to ending the political weaponization of the FBI and DOJ's abuse of power and restoring a government accountable to the people," Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told Fox News.
Hacking Activities
The FBI has been asked in the past to account for certain data collection and other issues, such as the extent of "hacking activities" on citizens' phones and laptops.
"The American people have a right to know the scale of the FBI’s hacking activities and the rules that govern the use of this controversial surveillance technique. Judges must have the information they need to carefully review the FBI’s remote search applications, particularly in cases where the FBI intends to engage in bulk remote searches against hundreds or thousands of targets at a time" as indicated in a letter sent by Senator Ron Wyden to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Now, with this investigation, all the questions that have been raised regarding the collection of information from U.S. citizens could come to light.
