Witness, lawmakers tangle at impeachment hearing
Former Trump campaign manager says Democrats ‘focusing on petty and personal politics’
Washington — The first impeachment hearing held by House Democrats Tuesday quickly turned hostile as their sole witness, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, stonewalled many of their questions and declared they were “focusing on petty and personal politics.”
Lewandowski, a devoted friend and supporter of President Donald Trump, was following White House orders not to discuss conversations with the president beyond what was already public in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump was cheering him along as he testified, tweeting that his opening statement was “beautiful.”
The hearing underscores what has been a central dilemma for the House Judiciary Committee all year as they investigate — and potentially try to impeach — Trump. Many of the Democrats’ base supporters want them to move quickly to try to remove Trump from office. But the White House has blocked their oversight requests at most every turn, declining to provide new documents or allow aides and associates to testify.
On Tuesday, Lewandowski made clear he wouldn’t make life easy for the Democrats. He demanded that they provide him a copy of the Mueller report, sending Democratic staff scrambling to find one. He read directly from report and asked Democrats to read passages to him, showing that he wouldn’t say much beyond what special counsel Robert Mueller wrote. Republicans on the panel forced a series of procedural votes, immediately sending the hearing into disarray.
“He’s filibustering,” said a frustrated House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler.
Lewandowski eventually began to answer some questions — he told the committee that he doesn’t think Trump “asked me to do anything illegal” — but still stuck mostly to what was already in the report, giving Democrats little new information to go on. And he made clear his dislike for the House majority in the opening statement, calling them petty and asserting that investigations of the president were conducted by “Trump haters.”
Lewandowski was a central figure in Mueller’s report, which the committee is examining as part of its impeachment probe. Mueller’s investigators detailed two episodes in which Trump asked Lewandowski to direct then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mueller’s investigation. Trump said that if Sessions would not meet with Lewandowski, then Lewandowski should tell Sessions he was fired.
Lewandowski never delivered the message but asked White House aide Rick Dearborn, also a former Sessions aide, to do it. Dearborn said he was uncomfortable with the request and declined to deliver it, according to the report.