U.S. House approves authority to sue Trump advisers who ignore subpoenas

[webfact]

U.S. House approves authority to sue Trump advisers who ignore subpoenas

By David Morgan

 

FILE PHOTO: White House Counsel Don McGahn sits behind U.S. President Donald Trump as the president holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 21, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to give lawmakers clear authority to sue Trump administration figures who defy congressional subpoenas, beginning with former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who is expected to face swift action.

 

In an escalation of wide-ranging probes of President Donald Trump and his inner circle, lawmakers voted 229-191 along party lines to approve the measure. It authorizes House committees to file lawsuits in federal court seeking orders from judges to compel officials to cooperate with official congressional demands for testimony or evidence.

 

The measure authorizes the House Judiciary Committee to seek a court order enforcing subpoenas relating to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The committee is seeking an unredacted version of the report, as well as underlying evidence from the investigation, and related documents and testimony.

 

Democrats acknowledged the unprecedented nature of the resolution.

 

"This has not been done before. But neither have we ever seen blanket stonewalling by the administration of all information requests by the House," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said. "We must go to court to enforce the subpoenas."

 

Nadler said he would go to court "as quickly as possible" against McGahn to compel him to testify about the Republican president's efforts to impede Mueller's investigation.

 

McGahn, a star witness in the Mueller report, last month defied a subpoena for his testimony and documents after the White House directed him not to cooperate with the Judiciary panel.

 

Nadler said other witnesses, such as former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks and former McGahn aide Annie Donaldson, would also face court action if they defy committee subpoenas demanding their testimony later this month.

 

The measure also reinforces a process for other panels to take similar action. Half a dozen House panels are looking into Trump's presidency and personal holdings.

 

The House Ways and Means Committee is seeking his tax returns. Other panels are probing his financial records and documents on policies ranging from immigrant family separation to the transfer of nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia.

 

"In all of our investigations, the White House has not produced one single shred of paper in response to our requests," House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings said. "This begs the question: what are they covering up?"

 

Tuesday's measure also authorizes the House Judiciary Committee to petition a federal judge for permission to access grand jury evidence from the Mueller probe, a step that Nadler said the committee will now take promptly.

 

REPUBLICANS DECRY VOTE

House Republicans dismissed the vote as a "media-grabbing" stunt by Democrats to bolster their partisan interests in the 2020 presidential election in which Trump is seeking a second four-year term in office.

 

"It is difficult not to view the purpose of this resolution and this debate as anything but political," Republican Representative Debbie Lesko said.

 

The vote took place a day after Trump, following repeated requests by Democrats, allowed the Justice Department to give members of Nadler's committee access to redacted sections of the Mueller report dealing with possible obstruction of justice by Trump as well as underlying documents.

 

Lawmakers on Nadler's committee said they hoped to see material as early as Tuesday afternoon.

 

Under the agreement, House Democrats will hold off on an earlier plan for a criminal contempt vote against Attorney General William Barr, who has resisted a subpoena for the Mueller report and other material. A redacted version was released by Barr in April.

 

Trump's defiance of House Democrats has helped ratchet up pressure on Democratic leaders to formally begin the impeachment process set out in the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office - an inquiry that some rank-and-file Democrats see as giving legal heft to House investigations of Trump.

 

It was not clear what effect the agreement with the Justice Department would have on that dynamic.

 

"All options are on the table. That's all I'm going to say publicly," Nadler told reporters when asked about the possibility of an impeachment inquiry.

 

The House Oversight Committee plans to hold contempt votes against Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday after they defied subpoenas related to the U.S. census.

 

(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Will Dunham and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-12

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[helpisgood]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"This has not been done before. But neither have we ever seen blanket stonewalling by the administration of all information requests by the House," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said.

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"In all of our investigations, the White House has not produced one single shred of paper in response to our requests," House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings said.

 

However, President Trump has publicly stated not long ago that he is "...the most transparent president probably in the history of this country."

 

Or, probably not.

 

The quote starts at about 0:25-0:26:

 

 

[Tug]

Oh yes the man of 10,000 lies lol.  I hope this will compell McGahn Hicks and the rest to testify as they should

[Tug]

If nothing to hide why not testify lol

[riclag]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

"This has not been done before. But neither have we ever seen blanket stonewalling by the administration of all information requests by the House," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said. "We must go to court to enforce the subpoenas."

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!  The russian investigation is over nadler! Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt! The WH and the AG are winning .If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege  on every question he answers  

[bristolboy]

47 minutes ago, riclag said:

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!  The russian investigation is over nadler! Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt! The WH and the AG are winning .If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege  on every question he answers  

Most legal scholars agree that once you waive executive privilege, you don't get to reclaim it.

[Rimmer]

Off topic post removed

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, riclag said:

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!  The russian investigation is over nadler! Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt! The WH and the AG are winning .If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege  on every question he answers  

That's why Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer called off their infrastructure meeting with Trump due to their hurt feelings. Oh...wait a minute..

[attrayant]

1 hour ago, riclag said:

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!

 

Things were pretty calm under the Obama administration.  I wonder what changed?  Oh, that's right.  The Orange Pustulence  has been visited upon us and everything's gone to hell.

 

1 hour ago, riclag said:

The russian investigation is over nadler!

 

Try to keep up with the news.  Even Fox News is reporting on all the slime and corruption that needs to be investigated.  I'd say it's about time for YOU to be moving along and stop pretending that everything is about Russia.

 

1 hour ago, riclag said:

Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt!

 

Maybe you should check the dictionary and find out what a "witch hunt" actually means.  Because it seems like you don't know.  When investigations turn up actual wrongdoing and dozens of people get indicted, jailed or surrender confessions, it's not a witch hunt.  It's the legal system and congress doing what it's supposed to be doing.

 

1 hour ago, riclag said:

The WH and the AG are winning.

 

While you've got that dictionary open, look up "win" also.  What did the White House "win"?  Barr just caved in to the threat of being held in criminal contempt of congress.  He's giving up documents that he previously said he would not (although it looks like congress still wants to go after him).

 

1 hour ago, riclag said:

If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege on every question he answers  

 

If McGahn's testimony is so sensitive, why wasn't executive privilege claimed the first time he testified?  Once testimony is opened up to third parties, executive privilege can't be claimed. Also, just like attorney-client privilege, executive privilege can't be used to cover up criminal wrongdoing.  

[Bluespunk]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

he Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to give lawmakers clear authority to sue Trump administration figures who defy congressional subpoenas, beginning with former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who is expected to face swift action.

 

Tick, tick, tick...fan prepare to meet faeces... 

[candide]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!  The russian investigation is over nadler! Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt! The WH and the AG are winning .If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege  on every question he answers  

Lol!

"President Trump faces stiff opposition from Republicans in his desire for a massive infrastructure package.

GOP lawmakers say the president’s grand proposal for a $2 trillion deal is too ambitious and warn that they will oppose any measure that adds to the deficit."

 

"Many Republicans were caught off guard by Tuesday’s announcement that Democratic leaders reached a deal with Trump to pursue a $2 trillion infrastructure package. GOP lawmakers were not invited to the White House meeting."

https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/441909-trumps-infrastructure-plan-hits-gop-roadblock

 

[heybruce]

On 6/12/2019 at 1:52 AM, riclag said:

Neither have we seen the resistance unwilling to work for the American people on infrastructure, jobs and fixing loop holes in a disgraced southern border debacle!  The russian investigation is over nadler! Your  party lost the election and the witch hunt! The WH and the AG are winning .If by some stretch Mc gets to sit in front of nadler it will be executive privilege  on every question he answers  

By "the resistance" I assume you mean the Democrats in the House.  You are very wrong about their failure to work for the American people; this failure is entirely on the side of the Republican held Senate. 

 

"In their first three-plus months in charge, House Democrats have been busy, winning passage of more than 130 pieces of legislation, including a sweeping campaigns and elections reform bill, a net neutrality measure, a Paycheck Fairness Act giving more tools to victims of sex discrimination, a measure protecting patients who have pre-existing medical conditions and a slew of spending bills. "  https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-05-17/congress-works-but-little-gets-done