Monday, the House Judiciary Committee led by Democrat Jerrold Nadler (NY), unveiled “an investigation,” into “the alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration.”
In the statement posted on Judiciary House.gov, Nadler explains as a first step the Committee has “severed document requests to 81 agencies, entities, and individuals believed to have information relevant to the investigation.”
According to the statement while the request seems wide-ranging, the Committee intends to focus on three main areas:
- Obstruction of Justice, including the possibility of interference by the President and others in a number of criminal investigations and other official proceedings, as well as the alleged cover-up of violations of the law;
- Public Corruption, including potential violations of the emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution, conspiracy to violate federal campaign and financial reporting laws, and other criminal misuses of official positions for personal gain; and
- Abuses of Power, including attacks on the press, the judiciary, and law enforcement agencies; misuse of the pardon power and other presidential authorities; and attempts to misuse the power of the Office of the Presidency.
Nadler said in the statement that both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the Southern District of New York, are “aware that we are taking these steps,” he continued, “we will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people. This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.”
Former attorney to Stormy Daniels aka Stephanie Clifford, who is alleged an affair with then-businessman Trump, was paid hush money by former attorney to the President, Michael Cohen, who was then reimbursed for that payment by President Trump, responded to the Committee’s letter via tweet:
While the House Judiciary Committee announced their new investigation into President Trump and his Administration, three other Democrat led House Committees also on Monday announced a request for documents and “interviews on President Trump’s Communications with,” Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the joint-statement available on Oversight House.gov, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (CA), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (NY), and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD), sent letters to White House Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to “request documents from and interviews with personnel of the White House, Executive Office of the President, and Department of State related to communications between President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.”
The statement explains this is a follow-up letter after the White House missed a deadline to response to the Committee’s request to answer, “five questions relating to the records maintained surrounding President Trump’s communications with Vladimir Putin.”
The original letter was sent on February 21st.
The Chairmen in their joint-statement from Monday explain that based on “media reports,” that alleged the President has “on multiple occasions,” taken steps to “conceal details of his communications with President Putin from other administration officials, Congress, and the American people,” that their original request to simply ask whether or not the President did in fact “destroy records,” violating the Presidential Records act, or if not “where those records are currently located,” has now resulted in the Committees expanding the investigation, due to the White House’s failure to provided the Committees with the more basic answers to their inquiry.
The President quoted Air Fleischer in response to the newly announced House investigations via tweet a short time ago.
It’s highly likely that President Trump’s other tweet covered in the Open Thread, was also in response to the Committees investigation.
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