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Mike DeBonis
Congress reporter covering the House of Representatives
The frustration of Democratic House investigators escalates after President Trump's refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations, leading some to wonder privately whether they should try to pressure President Nancy Pelosi to start a dismissal procedure.
Presidents and members of the six investigative groups investigating the president are increasingly angry at the White House's refusal to comply as they take up their watchdog role, according to several Democrat leaders. the House who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the matter. But this anger also extends to the ranks of the Pelosi team, according to several officials.
A recent threat by Attorney General William P. Barr of not appearing at the scheduled hearing Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee has only worsened the situation after the White House has vowed to prevent certain officials from appearing for subpoenas or interviews.
Earlier this month, several lawmakers in the most liberal caucus branch called for impeachment after the release of the special council report, Robert S. Mueller III. But Pelosi, fearing the aftermath of the 2020 elections as a result of such a political divisive measure, had asked Democratic investigators to abstain and simply continue their investigations.
But Trump's position of non-cooperation is blocking this mission, as his team has publicly called on government officials to ignore the Democrats in the House, prompting many of the more established Democrats to prefer further removal from office. a noticeable change on Capitol Hill. Pelosi makes the final decision.
"The Mueller report and this assault on the legislature have made Nancy's call to avoid much more difficult impeachment for single members," said Representative Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), Member of the monitoring. "We went from [Trump’s] The guilt in the Mueller report is an attack on the institution and the constitutional framework that constitutes the legislative power. "
Pelosi (California) said Monday at a meeting of House leaders that the Democratic caucus should continue to "prepare the file" on impeachment – if that were the case. But she stressed that the House should remain focused on its legislative agenda.
"We have to keep the floor," she said at several points in the meeting, according to participants who spoke under cover of anonymity to discuss the session.
Trump's public statement last week that he would ignore "all subpoenas" – occurring after Mueller's findings on 10 potential cases of obstruction by Trump – has led many Democrats associated with some of these investigations. to argue that they had to wait for the green light from Pelosi. These Democrats say that the fact that Trump is acting to block the Chamber of Deputies is a further obstacle and an abuse of power.
"Trump's conduct is such that it will force people to consider dismissal, even if it is politically difficult," said Representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Member of the Judiciary Committee who had supported dismissal and who had been sent back to Pelosi in the past. but plans to speak to the speaker. "His conduct is so opprobrium that it is difficult for people not to realize that he has been trampled by the Constitution. . . . So, this will eventually get people to consider [impeachment], I think."
At the same time, Pelosi's norm of the need to proceed to indictment has still not been met: no Republican legislator has joined the Democrats to demand the dismissal of the president, and public opinion – what Pelosi frequently cites as being the guarantee of any policy not changed in favor of Democratic investigators.
A majority of Americans say they are opposed to Trump's indictment, according to a poll released by the Washington Post-ABC News and released Friday. Thirty-seven percent of Americans are in favor of launching the process that could lead to an indictment, a slight decline from last month, while 56% say they are opposed to this idea, about the same as it is. a month ago.
On Monday, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Focused on working with Trump without overthrowing him. The two Democratic leaders and other legislators were scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss a bipartite infrastructure plan.
This created a kind of double reality in the House of Democratic Caucus, Pelosi signing a letter to Trump saying, "We can not wait to see you on Tuesday. Best wishes, "and the investigators are increasingly outraged.
The appearance of Barr Thursday could reduce frustration. The Attorney General threatened Friday to boycott the hearing against the Democrats' plan to have him questioned by a lawyer with lawmakers.
In July 1974, when the Judiciary Committee of the House voted three articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon, one of the charges against him was a "contempt of Congress", while the third article stated that Nixon had "failed without just cause or excuse to produce papers and articles as indicated by duly authorized subpoenas" and "deliberately disobeyed such subpoenas".
The House of Commons never voted on the articles of dismissal, and Nixon resigned in August.
Now, Trump is showing his intentions to reject congressional demands. His advisers told former White House lawyer Donald McGahn that he could neither testify nor cooperate with the legislator's obstruction investigation, even though they had waived the executive power's privilege. authorize to testify in the Mueller investigation. And they contacted former advisers to encourage them to ignore inquiries from the House.
Trump also prevents the Ways and Means Committee from obtaining his tax returns and his lawyers sue the Oversight Committee for asking for records from his accounting firm.
Pelosi has already left his caucus to return to prison. Several weeks ago, when many Liberals began demanding recall, she said Trump "was not worth it" in an interview with the Washington Post. Legislators lined up, demonstrating the strength of its appeal to the caucus.
Representative Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said in an interview Monday night that it was still too early to talk about impeachment and that the House needed to follow a process – do not go forward several steps.
"We will have to cross this bridge when we get there," Bass said. "I think it's extremely important that we go through the whole process of hearings, summoning people and if they do not come, we quote them to appear." If they do not do it, we sue them. and that we educate the public until the end. If we were to switch from Mueller to impeachment, I think it would be very confusing. "
Another member of Pelosi's management team pointed out that several deadlines were imminent and legislators had to wait to see what was happening. Barr, for example, is expected to release Mueller's full report by Wednesday to honor a subpoena. We do not expect him to do it, and the Democrats are ready to sue him.
In addition, McGahn is expected to hand over documents in the coming days. If he refused at the request of the White House, this would be another example that Democrats could quote in their impeachment campaign.
But the Democrats are divided. After the Mueller Report, Representative Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Chair of the House's Financial Services Committee, began tweeting about the fact that Congress had a duty to indict Trump for fear that it would not be safe for him. he does not fail in his duty. She even tweeted another President, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Chair of the Judiciary Committee, to kick off the process.
When asked if the absence of Barr's or the Justice Department's appearance by omitting Wednesday's deadline for a subpoena would help to justify the impeachment, Nadler warned that possibility.
"This certainly builds the case where the administration and the president are engaged in a total obstruction of Congress. . . . Trying to ensure that the presidency is not receptive to Congress, to make the presidency a monarchy is absolutely unacceptable and we will take all the necessary steps to deal with it, "Nadler said.
But impeachment? "It remains to be seen," he said.
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