Tag: House oversight

House Democrats threaten to subpoena White House for Ukraine docs

The Hill logoHouse Democrats are threatening to subpoena the White House for documents on President Trump‘s dealings with Ukraine as part of their impeachment inquiry, with three House panels signaling Wednesday they plan to move forward with the effort unless they get the material.
The move represents the latest battle between the White House and Democrats, and came amid clashing rhetoric Wednesday, with Democrats accusing Trump of potential obstruction of justice and the president accusing the opposition party of seeking to damage the country.
“Over the past several weeks, the Committees tried several times to obtain voluntary compliance with our requests for documents, but the White House has refused to engage with—or even respond to—the Committees,” reads a memo from House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)

View the complete October 2 article by Cristina Marcos on The Hill website here.

Rep. Ted Lieu: ‘The administration is just making stuff up’ with ‘absolute immunity’ claim

AlterNet logoDonald Trump recently called “impeachment” a “dirty, filthy, disgusting word,” but his continued stonewalling of legitimate congressional oversight requests are moving more and more House Democrats to embrace that “filthy” concept. That was the very point made by Rep. Ted Lieu of California, a progressive Democrat who sits on the House Judiciary Committee during our recent conversation on “Salon Talks.” That committee would be the starting point for an actual impeachment inquiry of the president.

Lieu was one of the early voices in Congress calling for impeachment. As a recent example of Trump’s obstruction, he highlighted the sham process that unfolded before the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Former White House communications director Hope Hicks appeared under subpoena, but refused to answer any and all questions about her time in the White House, under the Trump administration’s highly dubious claims of “absolute immunity.” White House lawyers objected to 155 questions asked of Hicks by House Democrats, including one posed by Lieu: “Where was your office located?” Continue reading “Rep. Ted Lieu: ‘The administration is just making stuff up’ with ‘absolute immunity’ claim”

House Democrats start following Mueller’s leads as they investigate Trump

Immediate strategy is continuing their probes, but calls for impeachment growing in caucus

House Democrats are starting to follow leads laid out in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report as their own investigations into President Donald Trump continue.

The caucus held a conference call Monday evening in which the six committee chairs who are investigating various matters involving Trump updated members on their next steps now that Mueller has concluded his investigation. Details shared with Roll Call were provided by people on the call who were not authorized to publicly disclose contents of the private caucus discussion.

Not included among the Democrats’ next moves is beginning impeachment proceedings against Trump. But some rank-and-file members on the call expressed a desire to go down that path, despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging caution on impeachment in a “Dear Colleague” letter she sent earlier Monday.

View the complete April 22 article by Lindsey McPherson on The Roll Call website here.