Probes set scene for impeachment
Probes in US set scene for impeachment
World
Democrats launched a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season with potentially damaging inquiries into his White House, campaign and family businesses.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said yesterday his panel was beginning the probe into possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power and is sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates.
The broad investigation could be setting the stage for an impeachment effort, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review special counsel Robert Mueller’s upcoming report before trying any drastic action. Nadler said the document requests, with responses to most due by March 18, are a way to ‘‘begin building the public record.’’
‘‘Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms,’’ said Nadler, D-N.Y. ‘‘Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee.’’
Trump dismissed the Nadler probe and others as futile efforts ‘‘in search of a crime.’’
‘‘Ridiculous!’’ he exclaimed on Twitter.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the House probe ‘‘a disgraceful and abusive investigation into tired, false allegations.’’
‘‘Chairman Nadler and his fellow Democrats have embarked on this fishing expedition because they are terrified that their two-year false narrative of ‘Russia collusion’ is crumbling. Their intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful,’’ Sanders said.
Separate congressional probes are already swirling around the president, including an effort announced yesterday by three other House Democratic chairmen to obtain information about private conversations between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a letter to the White House and State Department, the House intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform panels sent broad requests for details about Trump and Putin’s private meetings by phone and in person. In addition to document requests, the committees are asking to interview interpreters who sat in on meetings, including a one-on-one session in Helsinki last summer. The State Department pledged to ‘‘work co-operatively with the committees.’’
The new probes signal that now that Democrats hold a majority in the House, Trump’s legal and political peril is nowhere near over, even as the special counsel’s Russia investigation winds down.
They are also an indication of the Democrats’ current strategy – to flood the administration with oversight requests, keeping Trump and his associates on trial publicly while also playing a long game when it comes to possible impeachment. While some more liberal members of the Democratic caucus would like to see Trump impeached now, Democratic leaders have been more cautious.
Trump told reporters after Nadler’s probe was announced that ‘‘I co-operate all the time with everybody.’’
He added: ‘‘You know, the beautiful thing? No collusion. It’s all a hoax.’’
Mueller is investigating Russian intervention in the 2016 election and whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia. But the House probes go far beyond collusion. The House intelligence panel has announced a separate probe not only into the Russian interference but also Trump’s foreign financial interests. The Oversight and Reform Committee has launched multiple investigations into all facets of the administration. –AP