On the 3rd of March 2019, I was watching the Sunday News Show, “Meet the Press” where the US House Judiciary Committee, Chairman the New York Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler was being interviewed by the Chuck Todd. Rep. Nadler explained that his committee is not planning to initiate impeachment proceedings in the foreseeable future against the republican President Donald Trump. While he’s convinced that President Trump is guilty of criminal activity including abuses of power, corruption, and obstruction of justice, it is the House committees’ job, now led by Democrats, to gather the evidence to justify taking any further action.
According to the news feed on the 4th of March 2019, Rep. Nadler has jump started the process subsequent to the road map of information provided by President Trump’s personal Attorney when he testified before the US House Oversight Committee, held on the 27th of February 2019.
See Guardian report: The full text of Michael Cohen’s testimony to Congress
Here’s the rest of the story…
On March 4, 2019, Andrew Desiderio and Darren Samuelsohn of Politico penned the following report, “House Democrats open sweeping corruption probe into Trump’s world”(“The House Judiciary panel is requesting documents from more than 80 people or entities in Trump’s orbit, including his adult sons.”)
Excerpts:
“A key House committee with the power to impeach President Donald Trump kicked off a sweeping new investigation on 3/4/2019 with document demands from the White House, Trump’s namesake company, charity, transition team, inauguration and 2016 campaign, as well as several longtime associates and the president’s 2 adult sons.”
“Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, a NY Democrat, opened his much-anticipated probe with letters to 81 individuals, companies and government entities, seeking a wide range of materials that go to the heart of allegations against the president — including abuses of power, corruption, and obstruction of justice.”
“This is a critical time for our nation,” Nadler wrote to each recipient, all of which his staff noted have already been ensnared in investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller or other federal prosecutors. “President Trump and his administration face wide-ranging allegations of misconduct that strike at the heart of our constitutional order.”
“By initiating the wide-ranging demand for documents, the Judiciary Committee signaled it is creating its own insurance policy in the event that all of Mueller’s findings aren’t made public and it finds the kinds of evidence that would be grounds for removing Trump from office. Public hearings and closed-door interviews based off the materials will begin in a matter of weeks, a senior Democratic committee lawyer said.”
“The list of letter recipients reads like a who’s who of people in and around the president’s orbit — notably all of Trump’s senior 2016 campaign leaders, including Corey Lewandowski, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner and Brad Parscale, the campaign manager for Trump’s 2020 re-election effort.”
“Trump’s White House and key former top aides including chief of staff Reince Priebus, counsel Don McGahn, deputy national security adviser KT McFarland, communications director Hope Hicks and press secretary Sean Spicer must also hand over documents tied to several incidents that have long been seen as central to the swirling federal investigations into the president, his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election.”
“Topics under review by the Democrat-led panel include the firing of national security adviser Michael Flynn after he lied to senior White House officials about his communications with Russian officials, as well as then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from overseeing the DOJ-led probes into the Trump campaign, and the president’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.”
“At the Trump Organization, top executives Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and chief legal officer Alan Garten are covered under the Democrats’ document requests, as well as Trump’s longtime personal secretary Rhona Graff. Notably, the House panel didn’t include Trump’s oldest adult daughter, White House adviser Ivanka Trump, in its initial round of document requests despite her long-standing connections to her father’s business empire.”
“Democrats also are seeking materials from several Trump officials who have been charged in the nearly two-year-old Mueller probe, including Flynn, Manafort, Trump 2016 campaign deputy Rick Gates, campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and longtime Trump associate Roger Stone.”
“The committee also targeted other several other individuals and entities that have been ensnared in the various federal investigations, including Tom Barrack, a real estate developer and longtime Trump friend who helped spearhead the president’s inauguration; WikiLeaks; National Enquirer parent company American Media Inc.; the National Rifle Association; and Cambridge Analytica, the Trump campaign’s data firm. AMI and its CEO, David Pecker, were involved in so-called “catch-and-kill” efforts related to women who said they had affairs with Trump.”
“Democrats also requested documents from the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation tied directly to their investigative work over the last two-plus years. They also asked for materials from Trump’s personal legal team, including attorney Jay Sekulow and former spokesman Mark Corallo.”
“Sekulow said the president’s personal lawyers are “reviewing the request for documents and we’ll respond at the appropriate time.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the White House received the Judiciary Committee’s letter.”
“All recipients have until March 18 to comply with the document requests, and the committee plans to issue subpoenas if necessary within several additional weeks in order to force compliance, the Democratic committee counsel said. Many of the requests are seeking the same materials already turned over in the myriad ongoing probes, which Nadler’s staff said should help to avoid any battles with competing investigators and the Trump White House over claims of executive privilege.”
The document request was put together with sign-off from prosecutors in Mueller’s office and the Southern District of NY, the Democratic counsel said. It also won’t be the only document request — Nadler’s staff said another round of letters would be going out soon and cautioned against reading into why some people didn’t receive letters on Monday.
Nadler views his effort as a complement to Mueller’s investigation, which is examining Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, potential collusion between Trump associates and Russian operatives, and obstruction of justice. It’s also designed as a backstop if the special counsel’s work doesn’t become public. In his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Attorney General William Barr did not pledge to release Mueller’s entire final report. Further complicating efforts to release investigative materials about Trump is the longstanding Justice Department policy dating to Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal that states a sitting president cannot be indicted.
“Democrats aren’t just limiting themselves to obstruction of justice allegations tied to the Russia probe. The committee also plans to examine potential violations of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits a president from personally enriching himself while in office, as well as witness intimidation and the dangling of pardons to senior Trump officials caught up in federal investigators’ crosshairs.”
Link to entire report: House Democrats open sweeping corruption probe into Trump’s world
See Fortune article: House Democrats’ Trump Probe Expands With Sweeping Demands …
See: The Atlantic Politics & Policy Daily: Thrown for a Hickenlooper
See NYT: With Sweeping Document Request, Democrats Launch Broad Trump …
Gronda Morin 
I applaud their efforts, if for no other reason than to attempt to ensure that if Mueller’s report is not released by Mr. Barr, the public will have another venue to hear the information. BUT … given how long Mueller’s team of experienced investigators has worked, I fear that the House oversight committee will not be able to even make a dent in assessing all the information even before November 2020. So, our best hope remains, I think, that Mr. Barr simply release the entire, unredacted report to Congress, and if he fails to do so, each and every one of us need to become VERY vocal in demanding that we be allowed to know the extent to which our government has lied, cheated and stolen from us. Sigh. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired.
Hugs!
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Dear Jill,
My thinking align with yours. The US House Committee probes have a chance to make certain that the public will have a factual record of this White house and the way their residents continue to conduct their business.
Once those dwelling in the White House have left it, it will take years to clean out the stench of corruption, the unrealistic sense of entitlements where the rules/ norms mean nothing; where lying and dysfunction is the norm, etc.
I’m believing that no one knows what’s in the FBI’s Mueller report. I’m going by Mr. Mueller’s reputation. I’m betting that he’s fully aware of all the moles who would be conduits to the White House where he would not share all with them in attendance.
That may be why there have been so many red herrings as to when the FBI’s report would be completed. I’m thinking that the new AG William Barr who is best buddies with Mr. Mueller will be publicly sharing the final report, as much as is possible.
Hugs, Gronda
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Mueller is an honest man, a man of integrity, and also a smart man, so I’m sure he has a ‘Plan B’. But I predict this is going to be a roller coaster ride. And personally, I don’t think it will be possible to clean the stench from the White House … I think it should be burned to the ground and a new one built. Rather like, if Trump shook my hand, I would cut it off, for I know I could never get it clean again. Sigh. Hugs!
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Gronda, the Rambling Man can talk off script all he wants, but he is a worried man. And, GOP leadership knows it. They know the man in the Whitw House is everything Michael Cohen said. This is why the attacked Cohen and did little to rebut what he said. They should fear what they don’t know yet or what he may say or do next.
He was told not to meet with Kim. He did. It failed. He also got in trouble for taking Kim at his word over his intelligence officials, which he did with Putin and MSB. Hugging the flag does not erase these highly dubious acts. Keith
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Dear Keith,
The President is unraveling and we do see hints of this. What I want to know is how was his mind changed just this past week to NOT withdraw US military troops from Syria when he was previously so determined to do otherwise.
The other signal that something is up, is that President Trump walked away from making a deal with the N Korean leader Kim Jong-Un when we know that he wanted this, badly. The clue comes as the versions of how the deal went bust differ significantly. N Korea was expecting to close on something. I’m thrilled that President Trump walked away but this outcome is not consistent with how he would normally act.
Mark my words. Something is up that we don’t know anything about, yet.
Hugs, Gronda
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