Congressional Committee Subpoenas Mass. AG Over Exxon Probe

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey was even busier than usual this week, appearing Tuesday at a press conference announcing a new suit against Volkswagen and staging another media confab Wednesday to announce a crackdown on "copycat" assault weapons in Massachusetts.

But if Republican committee leaders have their way, Healey will soon make another appearance -- before Congress.

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Congressmen on the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology subpoenaed Healey and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman last week regarding their offices' joint probe into Exxon Mobil, which is investigating whether the company knowingly misled the public regarding climate change.

"The attorneys general have appointed themselves to decide what is valid and what is invalid regarding climate change," committee Chair Lamar Smith, R-TX, reportedly said during a press conference regarding the subpoenas.

Exxon has previously called the attorney generals' probe a "fishing expedition," and opened a lawsuit against Healey.

Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, endlessly in the headlines of late, jumped into the fray on Healey's behalf Wednesday, railing against both company and congressmen.

Posting on her official Senate Twitter (separate from the personal account she's been using to bombard Donald Trump), Warren tweeted, "You picked a fight with the wrong state & the wrong AG."

She called the committee's subpoena, an "outrageous abuse" of power, selective circumvention of states' rights, intimidation, interference into Healey's ongoing investigation, and a rigging of the system -- all on behalf of "a giant corporation" who's contributed to Smith's campaign.

Smith has, thus far, opted not to reply to Warren's tweet storm.

His committee also issued subpoenas to eight environmental and legal organizations, according to Reuters.

A spokeswoman for Healey's office told the wire service last week, "Smith's committee has no right to interfere with '... a state inquiry into whether a private company violated state laws, and we will continue to fight any and all efforts to stop our investigation.'”

Read More:

• Mass. AG Cracks Down on Assault Weapons Ban 'Loophole'
• Mass. AG Suing Volkswagen (Again)

>> Healey campaign photo via Wikimedia Commons