The House Judiciary Committee has launched a sweeping probe into President Donald Trump to discern if his Administration and associates obstructed justice and engaged in public corruption or any other abuse of power.
The committee, helmed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, announced Monday that it had sent out 81 requests for documents to start building its record for the investigation.
“We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight,” Nadler said in a statement Monday. “Congress must provide a check on abuses of power. Equally, we must protect and respect the work of Special Counsel, but we cannot rely on others to do the investigative work for us.”
Included in the requests were the Trump Organization, as well as several employees invoked by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen during his hearing last week before the House oversight committee: Chief Financial Official Allen Weisselberg, Executive Vice President Matthew Calamari, and President Trump’s longtime personal assistant Rhona Graff. The President’s two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., also received requests, as did the White House and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Several people cooperating in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, including Cohen and Michael Flynn, received requests as well. Both the Southern District of New York and Mueller are aware of the committee’s probe and have approved this document request, according to a counsel on the committee. Nadler is allowing the documents provided to the committee to be restricted to what has already been handed over in those investigations.
Nadler had said Sunday on ABC News that his committee was planning on issuing the document requests, and that Weisselberg and the White House would be included, but declined to provide additional specifics.
All of the recipients have until March 18 to provide the requested documents. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Monday that the White House had received the letter from the judiciary. “The Counsel’s Office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time,” she said.
More document requests are expected after this first wave, according to a committee source.
