Lawmakers to demand documents from Trump Jr in sweeping investigations
WASHINGTON: US lawmakers will demand documents from Donald Trump’s eldest son and a lifelong business associate as part of a wideranging investigation into alleged abuses of office by the president, a leading Democrat said Sunday.
US House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler told ABC political show “This Week” that Donald Trump Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, the sole trustees of The Trump Organisation, were among 60 people and entities being targeted by the probe.
The New York congressman said the requests would go out on Monday “to begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power” by the Republican president.
Trump’s campaign is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for alleged collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election, and for possible obstruction of that probe.
Many observers believe, however, his biggest legal exposure will come with the various federal and state-level investigations into his finances and the running of his charity foundation and business.
Trump came out fighting, posting on Twitter that two years of “presidential Harassment” since he took office had proven nothing but Democratic lawbreaking.
“I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted, corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal, should never have been allowed to start,” he tweeted.
Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday that authorities in New York were probing crimes allegedly involving the president beyond those that have been made public.
Nadler said it was “very clear” that Trump had obstructed justice,
I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted, corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal, should never have been allowed to start. Donald Trump, US President
by repeatedly calling the Mueller probe a “witch hunt” and by trying to halt an investigation into his first national security advisor Mike Flynn, who subsequently admitted lying to the FBI over Russian contacts.
Trump set off a political firestorm by firing FBI chief James Comey on May 2017 – and then admitting to NBC he had taken the decision after becoming frustrated with the Russia probe. — AFP