House Democrats add staff for Trump investigation

WASHINGTON — House Democrats are stepping up their efforts to investigate President Donald Trump and his associates, hiring new lawyers and staff as they take on oversight responsibility and prepare for a showdown over access to special counsel Robert Mueller’s final Russia report.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Tuesday he has hired two veteran lawyers and Trump critics as his panel gears up to investigate the Justice Department and review Mueller’s final conclusions, whenever they are released. Nadler and other Democrats have pressured Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr, to release as much of that report as possible.

The two prominent lawyers, Barry Berke and Norman Eisen, could also provide expertise for impeachment, if Democrats decide at some point to pursue it. The hires signal that while Democrats have been cautious on whether they may eventually choose to try to remove the president from office, they are moving forward aggressively with oversight as they wait for Mueller to finish his own investigation.

The Judiciary Committee is determined to “ask critical questions, gather all the information, judiciously assess the evidence, and make sure that the facts are not hidden from the American people,” Nadler said. He said Berke and Eisen have been retained on a consulting basis as “special oversight staff ” and they would consult on matters related to the Justice Department and Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference and connections to the Trump campaign.

Nadler did not mention impeachment in the statement announcing the hires, but noted that Trump faces “numerous allegations” of corruption and obstruction.