Trump's children listed by investigators as probe into White House intensifies
Donald Trump said he would cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee’s sweeping investigation into his White House, campaign and businesses after the probe was announced on Monday.
When a reporter asked him Monday if he was going to cooperate with the investigation led by Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, the president replied: “I cooperate all the time with everybody. You know, the beautiful thing, no collusion. It’s all a hoax.”
The committee has sent requests to 81 people linked to Mr Trump and his associates. Mr Nadler said on Monday the investigation will be focused on possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power. That list features the president's own children, including Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, though it does not request information from Ivanka Trump.
Mr Nadler said Monday’s document requests are a way to “begin building the public record” and the committee has the responsibility to investigate.
The aggressive, broad investigation could set the stage for impeachment, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report before taking drastic action.
Meanwhile, three house committees in total are asking the White House and the State Department for any information on private conversations between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin, including an interview with an interpreter who sat in on their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki last summer.
The broad requests from the House intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees ask for the substance of Mr Trump and the Russian president’s conversations in person and by phone, as well as for information on whether those conversations had any impact on US foreign policy.
The committees are also asking whether Mr Trump tried to conceal any conversations.
The committees asked for interviews with “linguists, translators or interpreters” who in any way listened to those conversations. Mr Trump and Mr Putin met privately in Helsinki in July for more than two hours with only interpreters present.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Check out The Independent's live coverage below:
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