Rep. Donald Beyer — “We are now faced with evidence of actions that strongly resemble high crimes and misdemeanors.”
A series of Democrat legislators call for the start of an impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump.
Trump has defied accountability despite the Mueller Report’s findings of “numerous contacts” between his 2016 campaign and transition and Russian officials, and Trump’s obstruction or attempted obstruction of justice in eight cases. He has also resisted investigation of his tax and financial matters, amid allegations of tax manipulation and fraud.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that the time is not right to pursue impeachment.
But the all-out effort by Trump lawyers and the White House, led by Attorney General William Barr, to block any further investigation has spurred about two dozen Representatives to act.
The stonewalling by the Trump camp has included Barr’s refusal to hand over unredacted copies of the Mueller Report to legislators. He also refused to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, defying the committee’s contempt of Congress charge.
The Treasury has refused to hand over Trump’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. Trump’s lawyers have defied a subpoena of Trump’s accountants seeking financial records — although a Federal judge ruled on Monday that the documents must be given to the House Oversight Committee. And Trump’s attorneys are also resisting investigation of loans to Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, amid claims of suspect transactions with foreign actors — including Russians — during and after the 2016 campaign.
The White House has ordered witnesses to defy subpoenas in House Judiciary Committee sessions following up on the Mueller Report. On Tuesday, former White House counsel Donald McGahn — a central figure in Trump’s obstruction of justice — did not appear.
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Committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler promised to hold McGahn in contempt of Congress. He later issued subpoenas for McGahn’s former chief of staff Annie Donaldson, and for Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director.
House Democrats are also in negotiations this week with the staff of Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his testimony.
The White House has tried to restrict and even block Mueller’s appearance, retaining him as Special Counsel despite the end of his investigation. The retention is enabling Trump’s camp to claim that Mueller is bound by executive privilege.
“Trump Is The Problem”
The supporters of impeachment now include Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Rep. Mark Pocan, a chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, the vice chair of the Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia.
Beyer issued a statement: “President Trump has shown utter contempt for the Constitution from the moment he took office, but we are now faced with evidence of actions that strongly resemble high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Rep. Val Demings, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, noted the White House stonewalling:
“We can focus on McGahn. We can focus on Barr. We can focus on [Trump’s former lawyer and fixer] Michael Cohen. We can call the roll. But the problem here is the president of the United States.”
Rep. Scanlon explained that the impeachment process could bring together several inquiries and break the Trump camp’s barriers:
“Congress has patiently tried to work within traditional means to get to the bottom of this extraordinary situation. The time has come to start an impeachment inquiry because the American people deserve to know the truth and to have the opportunity to judge the gravity of the evidence and charges leveled against the president.”
But for now House Speaker Pelosi is holding the line against any move for impeachment. She rebuffed several members of her leadership team on Monday night, and on Tuesday, her allies pushed back while supporting the ongoing hearings.
Pelosi’s deputy Rep. Steny Hoyer said:
“Candidly, I don’t probably think there’s any Democrat who probably wouldn’t in their gut say, ‘He’s done some things that probably justify impeachment’.
“Having said that — this is the important thing — I think the majority of Democrats continue to believe that we need to continue to pursue the avenue that we’ve been on.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the 5th-ranking House Democrat, insisted that it was “clear” Democrats did not win a House majority in November by campaigning on impeachment or Trump’s obstruction of justice.
