Democrats charge ahead with Trump investigations
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump warned Congress in his State of the Union address Tuesday that investigations and legislation don’t mix. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday such threats have no place in the House, as unbowed Democrats charged ahead with plans to probe Trump’s tax returns, business and ties to Russia.
The chairman of the intelligence committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, announced a broad new investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s foreign financial interests. Other committees’ actions are well underway.
Pelosi said Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight, under the Constitution’s system of checks and balances, and would be “delinquent” if it failed to do so.
Schiff indicated his committee’s investigation will be sweeping. It will include “the scope and scale” of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, the “extent of any links and/or coordination” between Russians and Trump’s associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates, and whether anyone has sought to obstruct any of the relevant investigations. “We’re going to do our jobs, and the president needs to do his,” Schiff said, noting the probe will go beyond Russia to include leverage by the Saudis “or anyone else.”
Schiff said, “Our job involves making sure that the policy of the United States is being driven by the national interest, not by any financial entanglement, financial leverage or other form of compromise.”
Trump immediately shot back, calling Schiff nothing but a “political hack” who has “no basis to do that.”
“It’s called presidential harassment,” Trump said during an event at the White House as he announced his new pick to head the World
Bank.