Watchdog requests documents from Gingrich ethics probe

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed requests on Wednesday seeking access to documents uncovered in an ethics investigation into former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that took place in the 1990s.

The group filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice requesting access to any documents provided between 1996 and 1997 by the House Ethics Committee relating to the investigation.

The group is looking for any additional documents that might not have been released publicly as part of the committee's report.

The possibility of additional documents has been the subject of much speculation, fueled by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who served at that time on the Ethics Committee that investigated Gingrich on allegations of tax cheating and campaign finance violations.

Pelosi's office denies she has any additional information from the investigation, but she has made several claims that prompted speculation more information may have been revealed behind the scenes.

Mitt Romney, Gingrich’s closest competition in the Republican presidential race, has encouraged the speculation and continues to press for full disclosure of the investigation.

“All of the records that were part of the ethics investigation, all of the transcripts, all of the records have to be made public,” Romney said Wednesday on Fox News. “Not just the final white-washed report, but the full record, the reason that 88 percent of the Republicans in the House voted to reprimand their own Speaker — the first time in American history that's happened.”

CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan said the group agrees with Romney.

“[T]he American public deserves to learn the details of the committee’s investigation,” she said in a statement. “We should have the chance to judge for ourselves whether the failure of the IRS and DOJ to take action was reasonable given the evidence the committee provided.”

Romney warned that Pelosi knows what is in the unreleased documents and “she will hand them to Barack Obama's campaign if Speaker Gingrich were our nominee.”

Pelosi’s press secretary Drew Hammill denied the claim on Wednesday.

"Leader Pelosi previously made a reference to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive
committee report with which the public may not be fully aware," Hammill said in a statement.

A 145-page report from the Select Committee on Ethics based on documents used during the investigation has been publicly available online since 1997.

---