Donald Trump has refused to release any documents or any individuals to the House impeachment investigation. That includes current and past employees. However, a few heroic and patriotic career government servants have pulled away to testify. Then, this happened.
Finally, the great dam holding back the government documents regarding the House’s impeachment investigation has broken free. A judge has ordered the State Department to start coughing them up within 30 days. He demanded the administration release anything related to Ukraine, noting these were of clear public interest, according to NBC’s New York affiliate.
These would include:
‘[I]n the [State] department’s custody. They include written readouts of meetings and conversations that are part of the inquiry, as well as emails, texts and diplomatic cables.’
An ethics watchdog investigating the White House, American Oversight, requested any government documents that would explain Donald Trump’s interaction with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. POTUS offered the new president a deal he could not refuse.
Attorney for American Oversight spoke to NBC in U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s Washington-based federal court:
‘These records concern a matter of immense public importance.’
Executive Director for the organization Austin Evers spoke to reporters after the hearing. He said:
‘His emails, text messages — which he showed on TV — are going to be subject to public disclosure with limited redactions. It’s possible that this administration will jump through some legal hoops to try to withhold them, but we have the court today urging the parties to focus on those communications as top priority.’
Evers considered the judge’s ruling:
‘[A] crack in the administration’s stone wall.’
The organization requested all documents and records involving any interaction between the president’s personal attorney/fixer Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine. In addition, it requested any records of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s recall.
Attorneys have “identified thousands” of documents linked to Giuliani and Yovanovitch. However, there may be duplicates and attachments.
The committees, which are at the sharp point of the investigation, have requested a variety of documents from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s department. They said the records were vital to the probe’s “core area of investigation.” The State Department ignored the committees’ subpoena for the records.
These committees were investigating the president’s demands that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky investigate former Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The younger Biden sat on the board of a Ukrainian utility company while his father was in office. Both men were investigated and cleared, but Trump wanted another investigation and presumably, another result.
Three panels, House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Reform wrote a letter indicating:
‘[N]ow obtained detailed information identifying specific documents.'[The panels] may draw the inference that their nonproduction indicates that these documents support the allegations against the president and others.’
Evers said his organization was committed to helping the American public see the same type of documents that the State Department has yet to supply to Congress.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) has been heading the impeachment inquiry and has requested numerous documents from the White House. Evers said:
‘[Should Secretary of State Mike Pompeo] want to fight so hard [to keep his records,] we’re happy to be in court.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
