Right after the Senate Intelligence committee chair came out saying there was no direct evidence of collusion between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia, the House Democrats announced their plan for a massive Russia investigation. Apparently, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe was just the beginning — this is huge.
House Democrats from a group of committees intend to laser in on the president and Russia emphasizing money laundering for the direction of their investigation. Yet, get this. They intend to have public hearings on a scale that will put the President Richard Nixon televised hearings to shame.
According to Axios, these hearings could go well into 2020. At a Washington reporters’ roundtable, one Democrat informed them that the hearing will bring in witnesses who have not yet testified before Congress. In addition, they intend to bring back witnesses who have already testified.
Former House Intelligence committee chair, Devin Nunes (R-CA) ran his hearings as an arm of the Trump White House. He refused to give Democrats subpoenas or even follow-up questions during his hearings.
What soon became apparent to the reporters was that the Democrats have no intention of waiting on Mueller as they investigate Russia’s interference into the 2016 presidential election.
Rather than do that, the Democratic members of these committees will:
‘…use their new subpoena power to produce a voluminous exposé of their own.’
As it stands now, the Democrat explained that three House committees will coordinate with one another to implement the investigation. The House Intelligence Committee chaired by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) will take the lead.
Then, the House Foreign Affairs committee chaired by Representative Eliot Engel (D-CA) will focus on Russia. The House Financial Services chaired by Trump’s nemesis Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) will focus on money-laundering. POTUS labeled her “low IQ Maxine Waters,” a decision he may come to regret.
The man currently sitting in the Oval Office, at least occasionally, has said that there was a red line between investigators and his family finances. However, the roundtable Democrat said:
‘(The president is) not in a position to draw red lines. I am concerned that he may have drawn a red line that the Department of Justice may be observing. If we didn’t look at his business, … we wouldn’t know what we know now about his efforts to pursue what may have been the most lucrative deal of his life, the Trump Tower in Moscow — something the special counsel’s office has said stood to earn the family hundreds of millions of dollars.’
The member continued saying that licensing, which is most of Trump’s current business, “doesn’t make that kind of money:”
‘Now, most of his stuff isn’t building anymore: It’s licensing, and it doesn’t make that kind of money. So, this would have been huge. (T)he fact that the president says now: ‘Well, it’s not illegal and I might have lost the election. Why should I miss out, basically, on all that money? He may very well take the same position now: “I might not be re-elected, and so why shouldn’t I … still pursue it?”‘
Members of the Democratic investigation have also been looking to see if they can discover what was said between Trump and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin during the two men’s private meetings. Dems plan to investigate:
‘…whether that’s subpoenaing the notes or subpoenaing the interpreter or other steps.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
