House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is threatening to subpoena the United States attorney for the District of Columbia to testify before the full committee regarding the surge of crimes in the nation’s capital.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, Comer reiterated his request to have U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves testify before the Oversight Committee regarding his prosecution of crime in the district, which the chairman says has played a role in the city’s rising crime rates.
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Comer first issued a request for Graves’s testimony last month, but the chairman said that petition was denied by the Justice Department due to an internal policy that prohibits attorneys from appearing before Congress.
“This excuse is unpersuasive and inconsistent with past precedent. Indeed, DOJ has made a U.S. Attorney available to testify at a public hearing as recently as last Congress,” Comer wrote. “Mr. Graves’ office is declining to prosecute violent crimes. If DOJ continues to obstruct congressional oversight in this matter, we will be forced to consider the use of the compulsory process.”
The Oversight Committee is set to hold its second hearing on D.C. crime on May 16, which will feature testimony from Mayor Muriel Bowser. The panel sought to question Graves alongside the mayor after its first hearing in March focused on Graves’s alleged failure to prosecute criminals that allows them to return to the streets, according to Comer.
In his position, Graves is the only U.S. attorney who serves as both the local and federal prosecutor for the city — making his testimony “necessary to conduct meaningful oversight” of the district, Comer said.
“As crime continues to spike throughout the District, Mr. Graves must be made available to provide critical information to Committee members and to inform potential legislation to remedy this troubling trend,” Comer wrote in his letter to Garland. “If DOJ continues to obstruct congressional oversight in this matter, we will be forced to consider the use of the compulsory process.”
Garland has until May 11 to confirm whether Graves will be made available to testify, after which Comer said the committee will consider issuing a subpoena.
The committee’s next hearing is the latest sign of House Republicans seeking to rein in the district’s self-governance, especially its local jurisdiction over crime and public safety. It follows the passage of a GOP-led bill to repeal the district’s rewritten criminal code earlier this year, which marked the first time in 30 years that Congress has voted to overturn a district law.
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House Republicans later introduced another bill seeking to overturn a number of local police reforms, building on efforts by some GOP lawmakers to restrict the district’s local autonomy altogether.
Democrats on the committee have pushed back on those attacks, with several calling the hearings a “waste of time.” Meanwhile, local lawmakers who were called to testify in the first hearing used the opportunity to call for the district's statehood — a move that has been repeatedly rejected in previous Congresses.