The Democrats are using their newly won majority in the House of Representatives and have begun extensive investigations into US President Donald Trump. The allegations: Judicial disability, corruption and abuse of power. The panel also wants to investigate Trump’s environment, with his sons in mind.
The scope of investigations extends from the Russia contacts in the 2016 election campaign to the suspicion of judicial disability to possible abuse of the presidential office for private business interests, as the democrat-dominated House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday.
As part of the investigation, the powerful panel, according to its chairman Jerry Nadler, has already requested documents from 81 organizations and individuals. These include the Trump Group and the Trump Foundation, the presidential sons Donald Junior and Eric, his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, and his personal lawyer Jay Sekulow.
„Political fraud“
Trump described the investigation as „political fraud“, but announced at the same time his cooperation. „I cooperate with everyone the whole time,“ he said. The President again stressed that there had been no illegal agreements with Moscow in the election campaign.
At the beginning of the year, the Democrats had replaced Trump’s Republican as the majority party in the House of Representatives. They also took over the chairmanship posts in the committees. The wide-ranging inquiry by the Judiciary Committee could possibly pave the way for an impeachment against Trump.
„Threat to the rule of law“
However, House Democrat Nancy Pelosi has been very reluctant to impeach. Their concern is that impeachment could mobilize Trump’s base in next year’s presidential campaign. The removal of the president from office would also require a two-thirds majority in the Senate, with Republicans still in the majority.
Nadler said the investigation should address Trump’s threat to the rule of law. The president attacks almost daily the „fundamental legal, ethical and constitutional rules and standards“. For this he had not been held accountable by Congress in recent years.
Committee does not want to rely on Mueller
The Judiciary Committee, according to the opposition’s deputies, wants to supplement the work of Special Investigator Robert Mueller with his inquiries. This examines since May 2017, inter alia, the Russian contacts of the Trump team in the election campaign and possible subsequent attempts by the President to torpedo the investigation in this regard. In general, Washington assumes that Mueller is nearing completion with his investigation.
„We have to protect and respect the work of special investigator Mueller, but we can not rely on others to do the research work for us,“ said Nadler. The task of the Judiciary Committee was all the more urgent, as statements by representatives of the Ministry of Justice indicated that Mueller’s final report should possibly be kept under wraps, he stressed.
Also Schweigegeldzahlen under the magnifying glass
According to documents published by Nadler, the fields of investigation also include possible business relations between the Trump Group and Russia. Also, the hush money payments during the 2016 election to two alleged former sex partners Trump – the ex-porn actress and director Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) and the former „Playboy“ -Model Karen McDougal – are under the magnifying glass.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in Congress last week that Trump had ordered these payments and continued to be involved in their cover-up after taking office. Cohen had been sentenced to three years‘ imprisonment in December, among other things, for these frauds; the court had assessed the payments as illegal campaign funding.
In addition, the Judiciary Committee, Nadler also wants to investigate Trump’s public attacks on the media and the judiciary.
