US House panel issues 81 document requests in Trump obstruction probe
By David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional panel
said on Monday that it has served document requests on 81
government agencies, entities and individuals as part of an
investigation into alleged obstruction of justice and other
abuses by President Donald Trump and others.
Among those targeted by the Democratic-led House Judiciary
Committee are the president's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric
Trump, WikiLeaks, White House aide and Trump son-in-law Jared
Kushner, Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen
Weisselberg, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and
former White House counsel Don McGahn.
"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," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler
said in a statement.
Among the committee's aims is determining whether Trump may
have obstructed justice by ousting perceived enemies at the
Justice Department, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and
abused his presidential power by possibly offering pardons or
tampering with witnesses.
“The House Judiciary Committee’s letter has been received by
the White House," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
"The (White House) Counsel’s Office and relevant White House
officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time.”
Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the
department has received the committee's letter and is evaluating
the request.
Republicans in Congress accuse Democrats of pursuing an
impeachment agenda as part of a political strategy to reclaim
the White House in the 2020 election.
Comey was leading an investigation into Russia activities in
the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with
Trump's campaign when the president fired him in May 2017.
The investigation was subsequently taken over by Special
Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to end his investigation
and report his findings to Attorney General William Barr in
coming weeks.
Nadler said Mueller and prosecutors conducting investigators
in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office are aware of the
committee's action.
"We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the
evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full
transparency with the American people," Nadler said.
Some of those the committee is seeking documents from are
among the dozens indicted by Mueller. They include former Trump
national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign
chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump adviser Roger Stone, and
former attorney Michael Cohen.
Also on the committee's list are others who worked on
Trump's 2016 campaign or in the White House such as Hope Hicks,
Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer; Rhona Graff, a
long-time executive assistant at the Trump Organization; and
David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc, which
publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.
Trump maintains that his campaign did not collude with
Russia and has repeatedly attacked the investigation, Mueller
and the Mueller staff on Twitter.
The committee's investigation will cast a wider net than
Mueller, whose investigation is focused on specific crimes. The
panel also is looking at whether Trump has used the White House
for personal enrichment in violation of the Constitution's
emoluments clause.
Several U.S. congressional committees are pursuing
investigations focusing on Trump.
Democrats say Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight
Committee last week directly implicated Trump in various crimes
including campaign finance violations.
(Reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch
Editing by Bill Trott)
