Call for Trump documents
House Democrats demand information from more than 80 people and institutions
House Democrats have made a far-reaching request for documents seeking information from President Donald Trump’s sons, his business associates and his political confidants, opening a sprawling investigation and casting a spotlight on the ambitious strategy of the committee with the authority to impeach a president.
The US House Judiciary Committee sent more than 80 letters demanding all communications from a host of controversies surrounding Trump, as the panel probes whether the President and his Administration have engaged in obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.
Yesterday’s request was broad, reaching current and former campaign staffers, top Trump Organisation officials, even documents and communications of the National Rifle Association and the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The inquiry touched on a wide array of matters, from the President’s business dealings with Russia to the firing of former FBI director James Comey to hush payments made to women. Many of those issues are already being examined by special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York — not to mention other committees in the House.
“We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.”
The extensive scope could bolster Republican claims that congressional Democrats are seeking to undermine the President and cripple his 2020 reelection effort rather than conduct a disciplined, fact-finding inquiry.
At an event at the White House with the North Dakota State University championship football team, Trump was asked if he plans to cooperate.
“I co-operate all the time with everybody,” he said, adding: “You know the beautiful thing — no collusion. It’s all a hoax.” The President also spent the day retweeting his supporters who criticised the document request as “ridiculous” or called Democrats “sore losers” in the 2016 election.
The vast range of the request raised the spectre of unfocused inquiries that could last years and involve multiple committees competing for witnesses and documents.
“The scope of the Democrats’ race to find something bad on this President is getting more and more concerning,” said Representative Douglas Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
“Where are they willing to stop?” At the White House, Trump and his aides vowed publicly to co-operate with the congressional oversight and review the request from Nadler. Privately, however, advisers dismissed the request as clear overreach and were preparing to push back against the committee’s demands. One aide described Nadler’s request as a political ploy orchestrated to cover ground that already has been trod by other investigations, including Mueller’s probe of Russian election interference.
The White House has been preparing for aggressive congressional oversight for several months, adding more than a dozen lawyers to the White House Counsel’s Office this year.
Democrats, meanwhile, say they’re ready to subpoena the information if needed, all but ensuring an intergovernmental clash in the coming weeks. Recipients — be they individuals, companies or government agencies — have two weeks to comply with the requests.
Should they fail to do so, the panel will compel the information forcefully, a committee lawyer told reporters yesterday.