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Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday commandeered a Democrat resolution demanding more information about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' actions and turned it into a resolution demanding further investigation into Hillary Clinton.

It happened after a 2.5-hour debate that devolved into a series of partisan point scoring and sanctimony on dozens of political scandals ranging from the Nixon administration to the Clinton impeachment, to the more modern inquiries to determine how damaging Russia's influence was on the 2016 elections.

Democrats were hoping to put Republicans on the spot with a "resolution of inquiry" that, if it had passed, would have asked the Department of Justice to provide documents related to any potential involvement Sessions had in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.

The resolution was sponsored by Democrats Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and David Cicilline of Rhode Island.

But Republicans used their majority in the committee to tack on an amendment that struck the Democrats' language and instead called for a special counsel to investigate matters more closely related to Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration. That includes the recently revealed information that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch asked Comey to refer to the Clinton email scandal as a "matter" instead of an "investigation."

It passed along party lines in the committee, 15-13.

Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia defended the move by saying Democrats were being "redundant" for seeking information from the administration while the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation was ongoing.

"This resolution seems to be just one more opportunity for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to vicariously voice Hillary Clinton's long and growing list for why she lost the election," Goodlatte said.

Jayapal said the committee had fallen down with its responsibilities by not investigating Russia matters, "even as our counterparts in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have put country over party and have refused to step away from their essential roles."

Democrats have made similar moves in other committees, trying to force votes on small issues related to President Trump and the ongoing Russia investigations. On Tuesday, Republicans torpedoed an effort by Democrats in the House Ways and Means Committee that would have allowed the committee to gain access to Treasury Department documents that might show ties between Trump and Russia.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced the party's strategy earlier this month when she said at a news conference, "We will force Republicans to take votes on the record to continue hiding facts from the American people."

Neither the Democrats' original resolution nor the Republican's amendment that followed may be that notable, in the end. The Democrats' resolution did not have the legal force of a subpoena, which means it could very well be ignored by the Justice Department. And the Republicans' request for a special counsel to investigate Clinton-related matters is only that, a request.

Read more:
GOP hijacks Democrats' bill on Jeff Sessions, uses it to target Hillary Clinton - Washington Examiner