The House Judiciary Committee began a wide-ranging investigation on Monday, requesting documents from dozens of people and institutions within Donald Trump's orbit. The committee has the power to recommend impeachment of the president.
Among the 81 people and places that have been sent requests: the White House, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, adviser Jared Kushner, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former campaign chair Paul Manafort, Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale, Trump Organization Chief Operating Officer Matthew Calamari, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, Trump Organization General Counsel Alan Garten and Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff.
House Judiciary Cmte. has sent document requests to the following people and entities related to its investigation into potential Constitutional abuses and public corruption by President Trump, his associates, and members of his administration. - @GeoffRBennett pic.twitter.com/ste3nX9uL3
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 4, 2019
"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," House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement.
"Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee," he continued. "We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight. Congress must provide a check on abuses of power."
In his statement, Nadler also described both protecting and complementing the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as the probe by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Nadler described a focus on potential obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power.
"This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts," he said in the statement. "That is exactly what we intend to do."
The White House has said it received the request for documents and will review and respond at the appropriate time.
Nadler has previously said that he believes Trump obstructed justice, which would be an impeachable offense.
"It's very clear that the president obstructed justice," he said on ABC News's This Week on Sunday. "Eleven hundred times he referred to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt.… He tried to protect [former national security adviser Michael] Flynn from being investigated by the FBI. He fired [former FBI Director James] Comey in order to stop the Russian thing, as he told NBC News. He's dangled pardons. He's intimidated witnesses in public."
