LIES MAY COME OUT IF TRUMP TESTIFIES
President Trump may want to think twice about going under oath again.
An attorney for the House of Representatives affirmed in the strongest terms yet Monday that Democrats are investigating whether Trump lied to former special counsel Robert Mueller — a warning shot that came shortly after the president said he’s “strongly” considering giving sworn testimony in the impeachment inquiry.
Douglas Letter, the House’s general counsel, made the case for potential lies in Trump’s written Mueller testimony during a court hearing on Democrats’ bid to get their hands on the special counsel’s secret grand jury materials.
“Did the president lie? Was the president not truthful in his responses to the Mueller investigation?” Letter said in a Washington federal appeals courtroom while expanding on why Democrats argue they need access to the grand jury records.
Led by House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Democrats first signaled in September they were exploring whether Trump may have misled Mueller about his 2016 campaign’s contacts with Roger Stone and WikiLeaks.
However, Letter’s court comments marked the first time Dems have used the word “lie” to describe Trump’s potential infractions.
The counsel’s remarks also strongly suggest Democrats could consider lies to Mueller as grounds for additional articles of impeachment against Trump, as they continue to investigate his Ukraine scandal.
“The House is trying to determine whether the current president should remain in office. This is unbelievably serious and it’s happening right now, very fast,” Letter said.
A federal judge ruled last month that the Justice Department had to hand over the confidential Mueller documents to the House, but the Trump administration appealed and the matter is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
Letter’s fighting words came on the heels of a tweet from Trump saying he may take House Speaker Nancy Pelosi up on her offer for him to testify under oath in the escalating impeachment investigation.
“[Pelosi] suggested on Sunday’s DEFACE THE NATION