THIS IS ABUSE OF POWER: Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee today and odds are one of the issues he will be queried about is why his department is not respecting an age-old congressional rule.

That rule is the minority party in Congress gets the same access to executive branch information as the majority party in congressional investigations. But, according to The Federalist, Garland’s Department of Justice and the FBI are ignoring that rule concerning information requests from the House Select Committee on the January 6 riot, as are other executive branch departments and agencies.

“On September 3, [Rep. Jim] Banks asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to give Republican lawmakers the same briefing offered to the Democrats on the progress of the agency’s own investigation. Partial findings of the FBI’s independent investigation were leaked to Reuters in August, which found ‘scant evidence’ the Capitol riot was ‘an organized plot to overturn the president election result.’ Wray has not responded to the request.

“’Pursuant to the rules of the House of Representatives, the minority party in Congress retains the rights to the same information that is provided to the majority party,’ Banks wrote in another letter to Wray on Sept. 16, which was also sent to several other federal agencies such as the Interior Department. ‘I ask that you provide me any information that is submitted to the Select Committee.’ His requests have been met with radio silence across the Biden administration.”

Based on his recent performance before the House Judiciary Committee, don’t be surprised if Garland is vague, evasive, less than candid, disingenuous, some combination of all four if the senators query him on this issue.