Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has asked the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to turn over evidence it gathered during its investigation. The FCIC released a report in January detailing its conclusions on what caused the financial crisis of 2008. From interviews with more than 700 witnesses and 19 public hearings, the commission blamed Wall Street and its regulators for missing the “avoidable” collapse. Now, the FCIC has apparently hired outside legal counsel, and instructed employees to notify management and lawyers of any specific requests from Issa for those interviews, e-mails and documents acquired through the investigation, according to an e-mail obtained by HousingWire. Issa is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. According to the FCIC, staff had to sign confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, but they do not prevent the staff from complying with requests authorized by a committee in the U.S. Congress. Still, Issa sent a letter to Phil Angelides, chairman of the FCIC, on Feb. 10 raising concern about the hiring of outside counsel. “I am concerned that the FCIC has taken these actions to chill or delay the cooperation of its current and former staff with this committee’s investigation,” Issa wrote. The name of the outside counsel could not be immediately be confirmed to HousingWire. The FCIC’s report was hardly a consensus and drew critics even within the commission. One dissenter blamed U.S. housing policy for the crisis while the other three Republicans pointed to “shock and panic” in the markets in September 2008. Write to Jon Prior. Follow him on Twitter: @JonAPrior