House Impeachment Panel Launches Trump Probe

Date: 04 March 2019 - 20:06

News ID: ۶۳۸۲۰

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The House Judiciary Committee will seek documents from more than 60 people and organizations as it begins investigations into possible obstruction of justice and abuse of power by President Donald Trump, the panel’s chairman said.
Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC’s "This Week” the panel wanted documents from the Department of Justice, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, among others.
"We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption ... and into obstruction of justice,” Nadler said. "It’s our job to protect the rule of law.”
"It’s very clear that the president obstructed justice,” Nadler said. He said it was too soon to consider whether impeachment should be pursued, however.
"Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen,” he said.
As evidence of obstruction, Nadler cited Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into Russia activities in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign.
That investigation was subsequently taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to deliver his findings to the U.S. attorney general within weeks.
To aid its inquiry into possible obstruction of justice, the committee is expected to focus its document requests on actions by Trump that could constitute efforts to remove perceived enemies and install more loyal replacements at the Justice Department, according to a person familiar with the matter.
On "This Week”, Nadler also cited what he called Trump’s attempts to intimidate witnesses in the investigation. The source said that, as part of its investigations into possible abuses of power, the committee would examine both potential promises of pardons as well as witness tampering and Trump’s attacks on investigations and the press.
Nadler said that on Monday the committee would release the list of people and organizations it would request documents from.
Trump has denied his campaign worked with Moscow. "I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start,” Trump said in a tweet on Sunday.