House Judiciary wants documents from White House, DOJ and Trump family business

The House Judiciary Committee will Monday request documents from more than 60 people intimately connected to the Trump administration and the Trump business, as Democrats widen their probe into obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

The broadening investigation, announced Sunday by chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on ABC’s “This Week”, will include a request for documents from Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.

“We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption, and into obstruction of justice,” Nadler said. “It's our job to protect the rule of law.”

The House Committee will also make requests to the Justice Department, Nadler said, adding that former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn would likely receive letters.

Nadler added that the Judiciary Committee will release the full list of people and organizations it is requesting documents from.

The new probe could be the first step toward impeachment for Trump, but Nadler, whose committee would begin that process, said that scenario is a long way off.

“Impeachment's a long way down the road. We don't have the facts yet, but we're going to initiate the proper investigations,” Nadler said.

Reuters reported that the document requests will focus on Trump’s efforts to remove those he perceived as enemies — such as former FBI Director James Comey — and replacing them with loyalists.

The House Committee will also look at potential promises of pardons, as well as alleged witness tampering and Trump's attacks on investigations and the press, Reuters reported.

READ: Dems may subpoena White House for documents on Kushner’s top security clearance

Nadler said it was clear to him that Trump had obstructed justice, referencing the president’s firing of Comey, protecting former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn from an FBI investigation, and referring to the Robert Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt” more than 1,000 times.

Trump has yet to directly address Nadler’s probe, but he told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland Saturday that the growing list of investigations into his personal and business life was the result of investigators failing to find collusion between his campaign and Russia.

“All of a sudden they are trying to take you out with bullshit,” Trump said.

Nadler’s announcement comes as special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly preparing to present his final report to Attorney General William Barr.

Trump is also being investigated by the House Intelligence Committee over the development of the Trump Tower project in Moscow, with committee chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) saying the project put the president in a very compromising position.

“That was a deal that stood to make him more money than any other deal in his life, and it was a deal where he was pursuing help from the Kremlin, from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin himself, at a time when Putin was seeking relief from sanctions,” Schiff told CBS' “Face the Nation.”

Cover image: President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. walk out onto the North Portico of the White House before departing on a trip to Wyoming to attend a Make America Great rally, on July 5, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)