House panel seeks documents from 81 people linked to Donald Trump; effort to ‘build public record’ may impact 2020 polls

Democrats launched a sweeping new probe of Donald rump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season with potentially damaging inquiries Washington: Democrats launched a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season with potentially damaging inquiries into his White House, campaign and family businesses. Nadler said the document requests, with responses to most due by March 18, are a way to “begin building the public record.” “Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms,” said Nadler, D-N.Y. “Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee.” Trump dismissed the Nadler probe and others as futile efforts “in search of a crime”. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called the House probe “a disgraceful and abusive investigation into tired, false allegations.” In a statement Monday night, Sanders said, “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. Trump Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House had received the letter and “the counsel’s office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time.” The panel’s list includes two of the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, and many of his current and former close advisers, including Steve Bannon, longtime spokeswoman Hope Hicks, former Press Secretary Sean Spicer and former White House Counsel Don McGahn. The committee asked McGahn for documents related to any discussion involving Trump regarding the possibility of firing Mueller around June of 2017 “or any conversation in which President Trump stated, in words or substance, that he wanted the Mueller investigation shut down, restrained or otherwise limited in or around December 2017.” The committee seeks from Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer who called Trump a “con man” and a “cheat” in congressional testimony last week, “any audio or video recordings” of conversations with Trump or conversations about his presidential campaign.