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The first hearing of the House Judiciary Committee as part of its Trump tax investigation sunk into chaos on Tuesday as Democrats clashed with a fighting Corey Lewandowski, exchanging insults and accusations with the company. 39; former campaign manager Trump, who refused to answer many of their questions.
Lewandowski visibly frustrated the committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, DN.Y., at the democrats' first question – when the witness, in an apparent effort to buy time, repeatedly asked Nadler to refer to the specific section from Robert Mueller's report on his question. . Lewandowski was following the White House's order not to discuss with the President any confidential conversations beyond what was already public in the report of the former special advocate.
The Ministry of Justice uses justice in court
Mr. Nadandowski asked Nadler when he met alone with President Donald Trump in June 2017. "Can you read the exact wording of the report? I do not have it at my disposal. "
"I do not think I need to do that," Nadler said. "I have little time."
Rejecting the question, Lewandowski told Nadler that he needed him to "refresh" his memory on the content of the report. He demanded that the Democrats provide him with a copy of the report, sending the Democratic staff to scramble to find one.
"There is obstruction," said Nadler, frustrated.
In the midst of the back and forth, the chief Republican of the committee, the representative of Georgia, Doug Collins, requested the adjournment of the hearing, forcing a missing vote that resulted in an additional delay before that the questioning of other legislators does not resume.
Lewandowski subsequently refused to answer certain questions. New York Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries asked Lewandowski if he was Trump's hitman, the criminal, the watchman or all of the above?
"I think I'm the handsome man, actually," Lewandowski replied.
Lewandowski, who was considering sitting in the New Hampshire Senate in 2020, was summoned to appear on the Mueller report. Recalling the political context, the witness tweeted, during a suspension of meeting, a link to a website promoting his possible candidacy. And the Democrats have referred to his ambitions.
"You are not in the field yet," Jeffries said. "It's the judicial committee of the House, act as if you know the difference."
There were fireworks from the beginning. Nadler opened by stating that the hearing was part of efforts to "determine if there was any reason to recommend indictment clauses with regard to President Trump". He denounced the White House's efforts to block the testimony of two other former Trump associates – Rick Dearborn and Rob Porter – who did not show up on orders from the administration.
"It's a concealment, clear and simple," Nadler said of the White House's efforts to block the testimony of Dearborn and Porter.
At another point, the Texas representative, Sheila Jackson Lee, told Lewandowski: "You are obviously here to block any reasonable inquiry into the truth or otherwise of this administration."
Lewandowski replied that he was unable to give an answer because it was not a question, but a "rant".
During his interrogation, the representative of Georgia, Hank Johnson, said: "Mr. Lewandowski, you are like a fish that you clean with a spoon. It is very difficult to get an answer from you. "
Lewandowski seemed to mock the unsuccessful candidacy of California representative Eric Swalwell at the White House earlier this year, calling him "President Swalwell" at some point during his interrogation. Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline suggested that the committee hold Lewandowski in defiance of his refusal to cooperate with democratic issues. Nadler replied that he would think about it.
Democrats have repeatedly asked questions about Mueller's report that Trump had asked Lewandowski to order then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit Mueller's investigation. The report said Trump said that if the sessions did not meet Lewandowski, Lewandowski would then have to inform the sessions of his dismissal. Lewandowski never conveyed the message but asked Dearborn, a former assistant of Sessions, to do it. Dearborn said that he was ill at ease with the request and refused to deliver it, according to the report.
Tennessee Democratic Representative Steve Cohen – who has already brought a bucket of fried chicken to a hearing after Attorney General Bill Barr did not show up at that – suggested to Lewandowski that he "is deflating". At another exchange, Lewandowski responded that he did not do so, and claimed that he had gone on a family vacation.
In his opening statement, Lewandowski ruled against Trump's investigations.
"It is now clear that the investigation was conducted by many Trump critics who had their own agenda – to try to impeach a duly elected US president," he said. "As for collusion or conspiracy, there was none. What there has been, however, is the harassment of this president since the day he won the election. "
The president was apparently watching and tweeting: "Such a beautiful opening statement from Corey Lewandowski! Thanks Corey!"
At the same time, Republicans scoffed at the audience. An excited ranking member, Collins, said the committee's previous hearing with Mueller did not go smoothly. Collins rejected the Democrats' efforts to get impeached, saying, "You do not have the votes."
Mueller concluded that there was not enough evidence to draw a plot between the Trump campaign and Russia, but it did not reach a conclusion on the impediment to Justice. Barr then made his own decision on the obstruction, asserting that the evidence was insufficient.
"Excited to be able to remind the American people today that there was no collusion or obstruction," Lewandowski tweeted in the hours before the hearing. "There were a lot of angry Democrats who tried to overthrow a duly elected president.
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The hearing highlighted what was a central year-round dilemma for House Democrats: they promised to aggressively investigate Trump, and many of their grassroots supporters want them to act quickly to attempt to remove him from office. But the White House has blocked their monitoring requests at most each time, refusing to provide new documents or allowing former collaborators to testify.
The Republican Senate is certain to postpone the efforts of the House to sue the President. And the moderate Democrats in their own caucus have expressed nervousness over the fact that the indictment measures could defeat their other achievements.
Nevertheless, the Judiciary Committee is going ahead and approves the rules regarding the imputation hearings of last week.
Catherine Herridge of Fox News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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