Latest in Congress
The Justice Department filed an objection to the House Judiciary Committee’s recent response to the U.S.
The House Committee on the Judiciary filed a response to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s order to show reasoning for why the committee’s motion to compel former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before Congress should be designated as related to the committee’s efforts to obtain materials from a grand jury.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler declared on Aug. 8 that Congress is engaging in “formal impeachment proceedings,” and America yawned.
On August 7, the House Judiciary Committee filed a civil complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to enforce the committee’s subpoena for former White House counsel Don McGahn’s testimony. The complaint argues that McGahn’s refusal to testify impedes the committee’s ability to determine whether to approve articles of impeachment, pass remedial legislation and conduct oversight of the Department of Justice. The document is available here and below.
On August 6, the Justice Department filed an amicus brief in Trump v. Mazars, President Trump’s suit challenging a subpoena by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform for the release of Trump’s financial information. The case is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; oral arguments took place on July 12. The complete document is available here and below.
On July 29, the House Oversight and Reform Committee released a report on the influence wielded by private individuals with connections to President Trump over the administration’s push to transfer U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, which it pursued without a bilateral agreement under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act. This report builds on the committee’s report of February 19, 2019, and is based on documents the committee obtained from several outside companies.
The Constitution does not impose a requirement to begin impeachment proceedings. But under extreme circumstances, a refusal to engage the matter of impeachment raises questions about whether members of Congress are abiding by their oaths of office.
The good news is that national security bipartisanship in Congress lives. The bad news is that the only place it lives is in the pages of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian election interference.
The House Judiciary Committee has filed an application with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting the release of grand jury material redacted from the Mueller report, along with additional related grand jury material concerning President Trump and former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
The former special counsel’s testimony is not ultimately important for any bombshells or revelations but for initiating the long-belated creation of an Article I record of the president’s conduct.