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WASHINGTON, U.S. – Accusing the Department of Justice of stonewalling requesting from Congress, leaders of the House Freedom Caucus have now put their earlier threats into action.

On Wednesday night, North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, leaders of the House Freedom Caucus and supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump filed Articles of Impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

The Republican lawmakers launched their bid to oust Rosenstein, who is overseeing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election, after the Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe. 

Accusing Rosenstein of withholding documents and ignoring requests from Congress, both the GOP lawmakers, have previously threatened to launch their bid to impeach the Deputy Attorney General, who has denied their claims.

Last month, upon being questioned by Jordan during a House hearing, Rosenstein defended himself and said, “I am not keeping any information from Congress. I certainly hope your colleagues aren’t under that impression. That is not accurate, sir.”

The Justice Department too has argued that it “substantially complied” with their requests, and that it was working so that any remaining requests would be “expeditiously completed.” 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that his department turned over 880,000 pages of documents to Congress as of July.

After filing the articles, Meadows tweeted, “I just filed a resolution with @Jim_Jordan and several colleagues to impeach Rod Rosenstein. The DOJ has continued to hide information from Congress and repeatedly obstructed oversight — even defying multiple Congressional subpoenas. We have had enough.”

He later added in a statement, “Rod Rosenstein has been in charge of the Department of Justice as the agency has made every effort to obstruct legitimate attempts of congressional oversight. For 9 months we’ve warned them consequences were coming, and for 9 months we’ve heard the same excuses backed up by the same unacceptable conduct. Time is up and the consequences are here. It’s time to find a new Deputy Attorney General who is serious about accountability and transparency.”

Jordan meanwhile alleged in a statement, ”The DOJ is keeping information from Congress. Enough is enough. It’s time to hold Mr. Rosenstein accountable for blocking Congress’s constitutional oversight role.”

However, the move by GOP came as yet another attack on the Justice Department by the Trump administration and the vote that will follow is likely to prove to the divisive.

A spokesperson for Meadows clarified that the resolution does not force an immediate vote on impeachment because it is not a “privileged” motion.

The move meanwhile, also comes just two weeks after Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers, who were charged with hacking the Democratic National Committee, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and state election systems.

At the time, Rosenstein pointed out, “When we confront foreign interference in American elections, it is important for us to avoid thinking politically as Republicans or Democrats and instead to think patriotically as Americans. Our response must not depend on which side was victimized.”

Meanwhile, the impeachment would now have to be approved by a majority in the House and backed by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate to convict Rosenstein.

The impeachment bid is however, said to be facing resistance from House Speaker Paul Ryan, along with many other Republicans, who believe that a real push for impeachment would tear their party asunder.

What makes the chances of the resolution gaining any success on the House floor is that Trey Gowdy, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has not signed onto to the impeachment effort.

Further, Gowdy has defended the DOJ’s efforts to cooperate with the committee and has reportedly said, “Impeachment is a punishment, it’s not a remedy.”