Nadler announces sweeping document request in Trump obstruction probe.
House Democrats are expanding the Russia probe to investigate potential criminal actions by the president; Kevin Corke has the details from the White House.
Democrats seem to be preparing for bad news to come from the Mueller investigation. In their eyes, bad news would be a lack of evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
They are now engaging in a fishing expedition to set up perjury traps and make a case for “obstruction of justice,” even though the Mueller witch hunt is likely to come up empty of any underlying crime.
This week, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., served document requests to 81 agencies, entities and individuals in an effort to help Democrats take the White House in 2020.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ARE WEAPONIZING THE PROCESS AGAINST TRUMP
As Fox News reported, these document requests were served “as part of a new probe into ‘alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump.’” Rep. Nadler claims that this is part of Congress’ oversight functions, but this really should be considered a campaign contribution to the Democrat who eventually wins the nomination.
The power of the Congress to engage in oversight hearings is not without limits. According to the House of Representatives' office of History, Art & Archives, “The Constitution says nothing about congressional investigations and oversight, but the authority to conduct investigations is implied since Congress possesses ‘all legislative powers.’ The Supreme Court determined that the framers intended for Congress to seek out information when crafting or reviewing legislation. George Mason of Virginia said at the Federal Convention that Members of Congress ‘are not only Legislators but they possess inquisitorial powers. They must meet frequently to inspect the Conduct of the public offices.’”
This power derives from Article I, Sec.1, yet it is not an explicit power. The power to investigate crimes and conduct trials resides in the executive branch and the judicial branch, not the legislative branch. Therefore Rep. Nadler is arguably overreaching with his new fishing expedition because this is merely a partisan exercise.
The American people will not stand for government by investigation and the wasting of resources intended to slow and harass President Trump’s run in 2020. This is a well-funded and high-profile exercise in searching for Republicans to entrap and harass.
The oversight functions fall into three categories. Again, according to the House of Representatives’ own website, “Hearings are most commonly held for three reasons: to consider pending legislation; to investigate issues that may require legislation in the future; and, to investigate and oversee federal programs. They reflect the most important issues of the day and what occupies congressional attention.”
This does not include an implied power to criminalize politics and to use the power of the Congress to engage in partisan investigations. Make no mistake, these are investigations that intend to help Democrats win back the White House, and if that fails, to use the impeachment power of Congress to remove the president from office when he wins another term.
This partisan investigation is being funded by the taxpayer and includes two Trump-hating lawyers, Barry Berke, and Norman Eisen, as consultants to help them attack the presidency.
President Trump is correct to classify this as “presidential harassment.” This is politically motivated, as evidenced by the fact that the Clinton campaign was never subjected to these types of hearings, and President Obama was never subject to this use of congressional power to support a campaign against him.
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The American people will not stand for government by investigation and the wasting of resources intended to slow and harass President Trump’s run in 2020. This is a well-funded and high-profile exercise in searching for Republicans to entrap and harass.
This “investigation” likely will end up having the opposite impact on the upcoming election. The American people will recognize that angry House Democrats are engaging in an abuse of power – the likes of which we have not witnessed in American history.
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