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WASHINGTON – President Nancy Pelosi hinted Thursday that Democrats in the House could still open an imputation investigation to extract free documents and testimony from Trump administration officials, which is a clear answer to the statement. White House that the demands of the House do not serve any "legitimate" legislative purpose.
"Courts would respect that decision if you said that we needed this information to fulfill our oversight responsibilities, including removal," Pelosi said at her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill.
"This does not mean that you are heading for an impeachment procedure, but it means that if you have the information, you can do it," Pelosi said. "This is destitution as a goal."
Her threat was the first time Ms. Pelosi suggested using impeachment as an information gathering tool, although she has done it privately before, according to a person familiar with his thought.
For weeks, the speaker has pushed back the efforts of many members of her caucus to advance impeachment proceedings based on President Trump's principles. in order to ignore all subpoenas from the House for a wide range of investigations His position has not changed, said his aides.
But Pelosi's statement reflects her growing anger at the White House for a blocking strategy that negates efforts to elicit public outrage over Robert S. Mueller III's report on campaign interactions. Trump with Russia during the 2016 campaign and its conclusions. if the president has hindered justice.
Many of the Speaker's allies in the House have suggested that the impeachment process be used as an impediment to compliance, believing that the formal convening of an impeachment investigation would effectively turn the House into a grand jury. This would require the administration to be more cooperative. It would also ease the growing pressure from the party's left wing to immediately begin a large-scale indictment process.
But her comments also reflect caution: Ms. Pelosi clearly declined to say Thursday whether she personally supported the imposition of fines or imprisonment of officials for failing to comply with the demands of the Bedroom.
"This is one of the possibilities that exist," he said of the idea, put forward by the members of the six Trump inquiry committees, that the House should implement such a strategy along a concept called "Contempt of Congress".
"I'm not saying we're going that way, but I'm just saying nothing is missing from the table," she added.
On Wednesday, White House Council member Pat Cipollone sent Representative Jerrold Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, a letter rejecting the Committee's general request for documents from administrative aids and requiring it to restrict its investigation.
The panel, which has consistently asserted the privilege of the executive, challenged the committee's contention that its investigation was a fundamental part of the constitutionally protected Congressional oversight function.
"The purpose of Congressional investigations is to obtain information useful for the assessment of potential legislation, not to harass political opponents or to carry out a non-exhaustive" reworking "of comprehensive investigations into the application of the law. the law conducted by the Department of Justice, "wrote Mr. Cipollone.
Mr. Mueller, the special advocate, has not yet appeared before two committees of the House who have shown interest in his testimony. Members of the majority of the House were forced to read its 448-page report aloud to dramatically impact a handful of journalists in a Capitol Committee Room on Thursday.
Ms. Pelosi downplayed the likelihood that she would put an imputation vote on the record anytime soon, stating that committees had to exhaust other legal and legislative options.
"We want to see what we can get respectfully," she said. "We ask first. Then we assign to appear, friendly. Then we assign to appear otherwise. And then we see what we get – so do not skip your head. "
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