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Mueller special counsel trump finances8/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The president claimed that Congress’ motive was illegitimate - namely, to provide fodder for a criminal investigation. Judge Mehta refused to block a subpoena calling on Mazars USA, the president’s accounting firm, to hand over Trump’s financial records (which could well include tax returns). Doug Collins, R-Ga., right, in Washington, Tuesday, May 21, 2019. Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., left, and Ranking Member Rep. In fact, when Judge Amit Mehta (who ruled in favor of the House Oversight Committee) cites President James Buchanan in 1860, or the Teapot Dome Scandal in the 1920s (when the Supreme Court upheld a subpoena for the attorney general’s brother), or the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973, or the Whitewater Committee in 1995, or says “in each of the four preceding Congresses - all controlled by the Republican Party, including during the final six years of the Obama Administration - the House Oversight Committee enjoyed the same power at any time conduct investigations of any matter,” the message is unequivocal: Congress has the authority to investigate potential corruption as part of its oversight responsibility and make inquiries “incident to their legislative duties.” Period. That’s why neither judge would tolerate a delay in implementing their orders. That’s why the recent decisions of two federal judges came so quickly, with a tone of absolute certainty. Without the ability to investigate, the power to legislate would be ineffective. To legislate, Congress needs the ability to inquire into problems, analyze possible solutions. No, this is about Congress’ core constitutional authority under Article I of the Constitution, the authority to legislate. Nor are they remotely about areas in which executive and congressional authority is contested, such as the power to make war. ![]() That means they don’t involve the debates swirling around executive privilege or the various “ unitary executive” theories that limit Congress’ power to interfere with executive branch decision making. These subpoenas involve private companies, the accounting firm Mazars USA, Deutsche Bank and Capital One, not present or former White House personnel. He is losing, in short, because he is flat out wrong.Ĭase in point: The White House’s recent challenges to subpoenas issued by several House committees. Any judge who has read the Constitution, attended law school, let alone swore the judicial oath would agree. It is because some of the positions he has taken in court are so far afoul of constitutional law, norms and traditions, that it doesn’t matter who the judge is. This isn’t because he has landed before judges appointed by political opponents, which is what he says. Trump has an abysmal record in the courts. In fact, I predict that the president’s efforts to stop those investigations will fail. That formal process is just what Congress has begun, whether it is labeled an impeachment inquiry or just an ordinary run-of-the-mill investigation of presidential misconduct. the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing." While charging the president with a crime was off the table, because of the position of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice, the special counsel investigation was critical “to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available,” Mueller said. Now, having completed that investigation and preserved that evidence, the next step belongs to Congress: “. While the talking heads on television may say otherwise, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s brief remarks yesterday could not have been clearer: the ball is in Congress’ court to investigate President Trump. Facebook Email Special counsel Robert Muller speaks at the Department of Justice Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Washington, about the Russia investigation. ![]()
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