Reuters
- The House Judiciary Committee began a sprawling investigation into President Donald Trump, his associates, and entities connected to them on Monday.
- House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler sent letters to 81 individuals, organizations, and companies requesting documents connected to the investigation, which will focus on Trump’s "obstruction of justice, corruption, and abuse of power."
- The list featured individuals and agencies linked to the Trump campaign, the Trump Foundation, the White House, the Justice Department, the inaugural committee, the Trump Organization, and dozens of Trump’s closest aides and senior campaign officials who were in his orbit while he launched broadsides at top FBI and DOJ officials.
- One committee aide characterized the document requests to INSIDER as an "investigative blitz."
- This person added that Democrats want to collect all evidence of wrongdoing in the event that the special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York are unable to publicize the details of their respective investigations into Trump.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee kicked off a wide-ranging probe into President Donald Trump by sending document requests to 81 people and entities tied to the president.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the committee, announced the document requests on Sunday, telling ABC’s "This Week" that he wanted to investigate Trump’s "obstruction of justice, corruption, and abuse of power."
Nadler’s statements came after Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime former lawyer, implicated the president and those around him in criminal conduct during an explosive hearing before the House Oversight Committee last week.
The list of people and entities the committee requested documents from signals the broad nature of their investigation; it included individuals and agencies linked to the Trump campaign, the Trump Foundation, the White House, the Justice Department, the inaugural committee, the Trump Organization, and dozens of Trump’s closest aides and senior campaign officials who were in his orbit while he launched broadsides at top FBI and DOJ officials.
One committee aide, who requested anonymity because they are not publicly authorized to divulge details about the probe, characterized it to INSIDER as an "investigative blitz."
This person added that Democrats want to collect all evidence of wrongdoing in the event that the special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York are unable to publicize the details of their respective investigations into Trump.
Included on the list were people like Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and Trump’s two sons, Eric and Donald Jr. Their inclusion signals that the committee is intent on probing whether Trump violated campaign-finance laws and used the office of the president for personal financial gain.
Several people and organizations connected to the ongoing Russia probe are also named on the list, including Cohen; the former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his defunct lobbying firm, Flynn Intel Group; former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his spokesperson Jason Maloni, and former associate Rick Gates; and the longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone and his associate Randy Credico.
Committee Democrats zeroed-in on several other companies and entities that have become embroiled in the Russia probe and the Manhattan US attorney’s office investigation as well. They include the National Rifle Association, National Enquirer parent company American Media, Inc., WikiLeaks, and the now defunct data firm Cambridge Analytica.
The committee has several broad areas of inquiry it is pursuing, one aide told INSIDER.
Among other things, they plan to investigate the firing of FBI director James Comey; Trump’s alleged witness tampering and dangles of pardons; the circumstances surrounding Flynn’s resignation and Trump’s later efforts to pressure Comey to drop the FBI’s investigation into him; Trump’s attacks against former attorney general Jeff Sessions following his recusal from the Russia probe; whether Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause; whether Trump had foreknowledge of WikiLeaks’ planned document dumps during the election and of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting; and the Trump Organization’s push to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
Sources told Politico that the document requests were signed off on by Mueller’s office and other federal prosecutors involved in investigating the president and his associates. There will also be more document requests to come, Politico reported.
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See Also:
- The House Intelligence Committee plans to call Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to testify
- Justice Department veterans say GOP attacks on Michael Cohen’s credibility are ‘amateurish’ and ‘laughable’
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley peppered Michael Cohen with questions about Trump’s taxes and foundation that could spell more trouble for the president
Source: Business Insider – ssheth@businessinsider.com (Sonam Sheth)