A US CONGRESSIONAL committee is launching a new investigation into President Donald Trump, his White House, his campaign and his businesses.
The House Judiciary Committee is sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates.
Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said the investigation will be focused on obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The aggressive probe could set the stage for impeachment but Democratic leaders have pledged to review special counsel Robert Mueller’s report before taking drastic action.
Nadler said the document requests, with responses to most due by March 18, are a way to “begin building the public record” and that the committee has the responsibility to investigate and hold public hearings.
“Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical and constitutional rules and norms,” Nadler said. “Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee.”
Now that Democrats hold a majority in the House, the new probe is a sign that Trump’s legal and political peril is nowhere near over, even as Mueller’s Russia investigation winds down. The move all but guarantees that potentially damaging allegations will shadow the president for months to come as Democrats try to keep them in the public eye.
Nadler’s announcement comes after the House intelligence panel announced a separate probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s foreign financial interests.
The House Oversight and Reform Committee has launched multiple investigations.
Several other committees are probing related matters as well, and while many might overlap, the committee chairmen and chairwomen say they are working together on the investigations.
The list of 81 names, which include two of Trump’s children, touches on all parts of his life: his businesses, his campaign, the committee that oversaw the transition from campaign to the White House and the White House itself. There are also people connected to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, including participants in a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer before the election. In a letter to the White House, the committee asks for information about former FBI director James Comey’s firing, communications with Justice Department officials, the Trump Tower meeting and multiple other matters.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House had received the letter and “the counsel’s office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time”.
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