The White House on Monday night excoriated Democrats for issuing a series of document requests as part of a sweeping investigation into President Trump’s administration, business and campaign.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blasted House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) for opening a “disgraceful and abusive investigation” into allegations she claimed have already been covered by special counsel Robert Mueller and Congress.
“Chairman Nadler and his fellow Democrats have embarked on this fishing expedition because they are terrified that their two-year false narrative of ‘Russia collusion’ is crumbling,” Sanders said. “Their intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful.”
{mosads}Nadler on Monday issued the first round of document requests as part of a sweeping investigation into Trump’s campaign, business and administration. The investigation will focus on three key areas, Nadler said: obstruction of justice, public corruption and abuses of power.
Sanders suggested Democrats are “harassing” Trump to “distract from their radical agenda,” citing the party’s support for bills that protect access to late-term abortions and the Green New Deal.
“The Democrats are more interested in pathetic political games and catering to a radical, leftist base than on producing results for our citizens,” Sanders said. “The Democrats are not after the truth, they are after the President.”
The Trump campaign issued a similarly blistering statement Monday night, calling the investigation an example of “dramatic overreach” by Democrats.
“These desperate Democrats know they cannot beat President Trump in 2020, so instead they have embarked on a disgraceful witch hunt with one singular aim: topple the will of the American people and seize the power that they have zero chance at winning legitimately,” Kayleigh McEnany, press secretary for Trump’s reelection campaign, said in a statement.
The Judiciary Committee requested documents from 81 people and entities Nadler said have previously provided information to the special counsel’s office, the Southern District of New York or other officials.
Nadler said individuals who were not named in Monday’s set of document requests could still hear from the committee.
While the move was met with criticism from the White House and Trump, who decried it as a “hoax,” Nadler defended his committee’s actions and argued that Republicans abdicated their oversight responsibilities during Trump’s first two years in office.
He reiterated that he believes Congress is still “far from” impeachment proceedings, which Nadler would oversee as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
“For two years, the Trump administration has been attacking the core functions of our democracy, and the Congress has refused to do any oversight,” Nadler said. “They’ve refused to — they’ve shielded him. They’ve acted more as shields than as what the Congress is supposed to do, which is to be a check and a balance.”
“We are going to be the check and the balance. We are going to find out, we are going to lay out the facts for the American people,” he continued.