Issa: US marshals were last resort for subpoenas

House Oversight and Government Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is defending use of armed U.S. marshals for serving subpoenas to Energy Department employees, arguing they were used only after other methods were exhausted.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the panel’s top Democrat, sent Issa a strongly worded letter Monday denouncing the use of the marshals as “intimidation,” and raising other complaints about the GOP-led probe of federal green energy loan guarantees.

But Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, said all recipients of subpoenas were first asked if they or their lawyers would accept service of subpoenas over email. 

“Five agreed to accept service over email and those subpoenas were delivered as such. Only those who would not cooperate by agreeing to accept service of a subpoena via email were serviced by U.S. marshals,” Hill said.

“The use of the U.S. Marshals Service because DOE employees refused to voluntarily accept service via email is an another example of the lack of cooperation the committee has received in its investigation,” Hill added.

Issa is probing the embattled federal green energy loan program and focusing in particular on DOE officials’ use of their private email accounts, which Issa contends may have violated federal records laws.

Emails uncovered by the committee have shown that a number of DOE staff used their personal email accounts for discussions about the loan program, including Jonathan Silver, the former head of the loan program's office.