Even though they’ve taken no vote to have a formal impeachment investigation, they think they can send subpoenas
House Democrats subpoena White House for Ukraine documents, escalating impeachment probe
House Democrats on Friday issued a subpoena to the White House for documents related to Ukraine, ratcheting up the Democratic impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
The subpoena came after the three committees leading the impeachment inquiry separately sent a letter Friday seeking documents from Vice President Mike Pence as part of their investigation into Trump and his conversation with the President of Ukraine.
The subpoena from House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings to the White House includes a request for a host of documents and communications tied to the President’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the holding up of foreign aid to Ukraine and efforts by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates to push the Ukrainians to investigate Vice President Joe Biden and Burisma, the company that hired Hunter Biden’s son Hunter Biden to be on its board, according to a memo Cummings sent on the subpoena earlier this week.
“We deeply regret that President Trump has put us — and the nation — in this position, but his actions have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena,” Cummings of Maryland, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of California and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel of New York wrote in a letter to the White House on Friday.
Interesting. What will they do if the White House decides to tell them to go pound sand, or simply slow walks things, just as the Obama administration did in most instances? Waiting for the Obama administration to cooperate was like watch a whale’s pregnancy: it just keeps going on and on and on. And, in many cases the Obama admin just refused to cooperate at all, releasing nothing, and the media did absolutely nothing. No haranguing opinion pieces, no editorials, not blasting pieces in the straight news section, no monologues on the TV news. They mostly supported it. Heck, we still haven’t gotten to the bottom of Operation Fast and Furious, and most news outlets have zero interest in finding out exactly what happened with Joe Biden and his son in relation to China and Ukraine.
The White House downplayed the subpoena.
“This subpoena changes nothing — just more document requests, wasted time, and taxpayer dollars that will ultimately show the President did nothing wrong,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “The Do Nothing Democrats can continue with their kangaroo court while the President and his Administration will continue to work on behalf of the American people.” (snip)
The vice president’s spokesman said that the Democrats letter “does not appear to be a serious request.”
“Given the scope, it does not appear to be a serious request but just another attempt by the Do Nothing Democrats to call attention to their partisan impeachment,” Pence spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement. “Despite their efforts to distract and obstruct our agenda, this Administration will stay focused on creating jobs, securing the border, rebuilding our military, negotiating better trade deals, and the issues most important to the American people.”
Fighting back is the best option. Refusing to play the Democrats game. Now, if only elected Republicans would hold strong, instead of being the usual squishes. Further, you may think Trump is playing fast and loose (but, what do you expect from a New Yorker? This is the attitude on display), but you know that Pence is an upstanding man, and wouldn’t be part of hijinx. Democrats might well regret getting documents and such from Pence.
