Again, the House and/or Senate could have formally made the request, but they didn't, so while you may BELIEVE that something nefarious was going on, the reality is that those who had much more information than you or I didn't think that it was warranted.  Had they made a formal request, and Holder or Lynch said no, then they could have gone public.  The more likely explanation is that the Republicans, as with much of everything they do these days is all sound but not much else, they are good at a sound bite but thats about it.  Well a sound bite and convincing a subset of the population that they are right.