Probe marks launch of impeachment process
Scrutiny is overdue for troubled administration
Onslaught of scrutiny is overdue for troubled Trump administration
The impeachment process has begun. If you want to quibble, think of it as the pre-impeachment process. Whatever you call it, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler is not fooling around.
Nadler said Sunday on ABC News that he would ask for documents from more than 60 people in President Donald Trump’s family, business, White House and Justice Department. That seemed like a lot, but he understated the case. The New Yorker who would lead impeachment hearings just launched what he called an “investigation into threats against the rule of law” and requested documents from 81 “agencies, entities and individuals.”
This isn’t overkill, it’s playing catchup. What we’re seeing is the oversight that should have started on Day One of this administration. It’s also laying the foundation for impeachment.
Last week’s Michael Cohen hearing before the House oversight committee was a dramatic headline moment for Americans, especially those who voted for a Democratic House: This is it, the time for accountability has arrived. It was also the public-facing moment that put things into sharp focus for people who don’t live and breathe politics.
Yet Nadler’s news release Monday was even more dramatic — from the title of the inquiry that signals what’s at stake (the rule of law) to its sweep (“alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption and other abuses of power”) to its long list of document requests.
The string of alleged and potential misdeeds grows by the day. There are at least 17 known law enforcement investigations into Trump’s administration, transition, campaign, inauguration, foundation and business, on top of multiple new and ongoing Capitol Hill investigations. Cohen’s public and private testimony last week gave Congress many avenues to follow up, including new leads on the Trump Tower Moscow project and possible insurance fraud by the Trump Organization. Cohen also said he was talking to federal prosecutors in New York about another investigation of Trump wrongdoing but couldn’t disclose what it was.
We were still digesting all of this when The New York Times reported Thursday that, according to four unnamed sources “briefed on the matter,” Trump had overruled intelligence professionals to get a top-secret security clearance for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner — a report quickly confirmed by The Washington Post with its own anonymous “current and former administration officials.” That kicked an existing congressional investigation of administration security clearance procedures into even higher gear.
Then on Saturday, The Post reported that as a result of Cohen’s private testimony last week, Congress is also investigating whether he discussed a pardon with anyone in the administration, according to anonymous sources “familiar with the matter.” Possibly related, or possibly another new front: Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, said on MSNBC that “explosive,” potentially gamechanging information related to “lying and obstruction of justice” arose from the private testimony. And there’s more to come Wednesday, when Cohen returns for another closed session with the House Intelligence Committee.
If the public Cohen hearing was a marker laid down by the new House Democratic majority, it was also a vivid illustration of House Republicans’ resistance. They did not mount a defense of their fearless leader. Instead they attacked Cohen’s credibility and later asked the Justice Department to investigate him for perjury.
The onslaught of congressional investigations is a direct result of House Republicans shirking their obligations in the face of Trump’s norm-shattering, possibly legally compromised presidency. If and when impeachment is inevitable, the factual groundwork will have been laid. Most of America hopefully will not be shocked. And perhaps at least some Republicans will decide, at long last, that this can’t go on.
Jill Lawrence is commentary editor of USA TODAY and author of “The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock.”