Writing from his seat on the House Committee on the Judiciary, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is requiring the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in North Carolina to provide all information it has pertaining to its relationship with the Department of Justice, as RTI has been identified as a DOJ grant recipient.
Rep. Jordan’s demand for information was sent to Research Triangle Institute president Tim Gabel, and it requests — for purposes of DOJ oversight — all materials linking RTI to DOJ grant programs, “including the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office of Violence Against Women (OVW), and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).”
[NOTE: RTI International describes itself as an “independent, nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world’s most critical problems with science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future.”]
Jordan’s letter demands fulfillment of this request not later than July 14 and asks in addition for a comprehensive list of “all current and former RTI International (Research Triangle Institute) employees, advisory members, or board members who are currently employed, or who were previously employed, at OJP, OVW, or COPS.”
Jordan explains his request by saying that Congress “has an important interest in ensuring that taxpayer-funded grants are used in a manner that is consistent with statutory authorization and congressional intent.”
Jordan justifies the legitimacy of his requests by writing that “pursuant to the Rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on the Judiciary is authorized to conduct oversight of Department of Justice’s programs and operations.”
Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the Ranking Member of the Committee, is cc’d on the demand(s).
#ICYMI: @Jim_Jordan raises questions on the Department of Justice’s grant programs and operations.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) July 3, 2023
📍 https://t.co/begLCeDUGI
Jordan delivers similar letters to the heads of the various DOJ programs, including one to Office of Violence Against Women acting director Allison Randall, in which Jordan writes:
“During the last fiscal year, OVW received $700 million in taxpayer funds and employed 139 full-time and part-time employees. OVW’s FY 2024 request would increase the Office’s budget to $1 billion, bringing the overall DOJ grant budget to $7.308 billion.”
Jordan’s letter to Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon cites the budget of the Office of Justice Programs, which, he writes, “received nearly $5 billion in taxpayer funds and employed 859 full-time and part-time employees.”
[NOTE: The OJP, which got a budget boost in 2022 from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, runs programs like the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVI), where the chief goal is “to reach community members who are at the highest risk of engaging in or becoming victims of violence, and providing a wide array of services to expand their opportunities in life.”]
It remains to be seen whether Jordan’s Oversight Committee has the power it claims under the House Rules to compel delivery of the information he demands from DOJ. Recent efforts by Jordan to compel DOJ transparency and disclosure regarding information on Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s case against Donald Trump have been largely rejected.
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