Echoes of Nixon seen by Nadler
Threatens Don crony with contempt
WASHINGTON — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler repeatedly raised the specter of Richard Nixon at a hearing Tuesday where President Trump’s former campaign manager refused to answer many questions, and other witnesses defied subpoenas to even appear.
Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) was hoping to illuminate sections of the Mueller Report detailing Trump’s orders to subordinates to try to get thenAttorney General Jeff Sessions to squash special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of the 2016 elections.
The White House ordered two former staffers — Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter — not to answer subpoenas, citing executive privilege and “absolute immunity” for presidential staff from congressional scrutiny.
The witness who did testify, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, had been ordered to stay silent about any interactions with President Trump that were not already public in the Mueller Report, though the former campaign manager never had a job in the White House.
Lewandowski’s stance prompted Nadler to threaten to hold him in contempt — and the congressman reminded him and the administration lawyers sitting behind him that one of the articles of impeachment Nixon would have faced was spurning Congress’s subpoenas.
“When you refuse to answer these questions you are obstructing the work of our committee. You are also proving our point for the American people to see — the president is intent on obstructing our legitimate oversight,” Nadler told Lewandowki at one point in the acrimonious hearing.
“You are aiding him in that obstruction,” Nadler said, “and I will remind you that Article III of the impeachment against President Nixon was based on obstruction of Congress.”
He also pointed out that conversations that may involve crimes are never shielded.
“Conversations about criminal actions are not official White House business, without question,” Nadler said.
Republicans accused Nadler of holding a sham impeachment inquiry, and accused Democrats of playing politics. Lewandowski, asked what he thought the Democrats were doing, impugned their motives directly.
“I think they hate this president more than they love their country,” Lewandowski said.
Not long after that, however, he asked for a break — which Democrats pointed out he used to promote his campaign for Senate in New Hampshire.
“New website just launched to help a potential senate run. Sign up now!” Lewandowski tweeted. He also retweeted a Trump tweet saying what a good job Lewandowski was doing.
Democrats pointed out the tweet in an apparent bid to cast doubt on the political operative’s motives for testifying.
A lawyer who questioned him for half an hour at the end of the hearing also pointed to statements Lewandowski made in television interviews that contradicted his testimony in the Mueller report.
The key parts of the report that Nadler was focused on were Trump’s requests to numerous White House officials to get Jeff Sessions to squash Mueller’s investigation.
According to Mueller’s report, Trump dictated a specific message that Lewandowski wrote down and agreed to deliver to Sessions after the former attorney g0eneral had recused himself. Trump wanted Sessions to declare the probe was Russian meddling in future elections.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee) wanted to know if Lewandowski thought the request was problematic.
“You didn’t think it would have been illegal for you to ask Mr. Sessions to drop the investigation?” Cohen asked. “You didn’t think that was illegal to obstruct justice?”
“Congressman, the president didn’t ask me to do anything illegal,” Lewandowski said.