CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS NOT “COWED” BY PRESIDENT’S THREATS

…A threatening US President

Speaker Pelosi accuses president of making “all-out threats”

Because the new Democratic House Oversight Committees are doing the job that the founders designed into the US Constitution, (A job that the Republican Committees did not do).  The president called these investigations into his administration and his business “ridiculous” and “presidential harassment.”

The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi accused the president of delivering an unwarranted “all-out threat” to Democratic lawmakers sworn by this same Constitution to provide a check and balance on a president’s power.

Once again, Trump doesn't understand that he is a president, not an authoritarian dictator.

Just this Thursday, hearings were scheduled on presidential tax returns and family separations at the Mexican border, and there’s a session today for questioning acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker as to his comments in how he was selected to be the acting AG.

The reality for the president is that he will now go through the oversight that should have been done in his first year as president.  Because of the Republican Party, this president faced none of the necessary oversight examination from his Republican Congress.  The GOP will now find what they should have found if they would have done what the US Constitution requires of the US Congress.

Democrats have spent weeks forming their committees.  They have hired the necessary staff for laying out the groundwork for the coming presidential probes.  They have been briefed that the president is eager for trying to turn their investigations into his political football.  All of this, as his critics demand swift action to uncover various illegal misdeeds.

In the State of the Union (SOTU) speech, the president tried to make the case that undue Democratic oversight would impede progress for the American people.  He even made the ridiculous statement that, “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” he said. “It just doesn’t work that way.”  I’m sorry Mr. President, but yes it does!

This is just more proof that our ignorant president still doesn’t understand that the nation’s founders made the kind of investigations that are just now starting a requirement for this nation to be a functioning democracy.  They designed the whole system to not only allow them, they are required.  And the Republican’s oversight committees did not do the job that the US Constitution requires.

Speaker Pelosi dismissed Trump’s insinuation that there would be no progress on any legislation, at the same time that Democratic lawmakers were starting to pry open the doors of Trump’s administration.

“Presidents should not bring threats to the floor of the House,” Pelosi said. “It’s not just investigation; it’s called “oversight”.  It’s our congressional responsibility, and if we didn’t do it, we would be delinquent in our duties.”

Trump has dismissed the new probe by the House Intelligence Committee into his foreign business entanglements, calling its chairman, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA), a “political hack.”  Trump said he had never heard of Rep. Schiff, but he still called him a “political hack.”  “No other politician has to go through that,” Trump said. “It’s called presidential harassment. And it’s unfortunate. And it really does hurt our country.”

No Mr. president, it's in the Constitution!

As expected, the Democrats are showing no sign of being cowed by the president.  But they do know that they must walk an appropriate line of respecting the Office of the President.....not the president, the office!  All this while not being timid for uncovering potential presidential misdeeds.

“We’re going to do our homework first,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), whose panel is scheduled to receive testimony next month from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. “What they [Republicans] would do is, they would go out and make headlines a week or two before the hearing and then look for some facts to prove the headlines. We’re not doing that.”

This week’s Democratic hearings will offer a different approach that the committees could ultimately take as they dig into Trump's orbit.  The House Ways and Means subcommittee is set to examine the disclosure of the president’s tax returns, a subject aimed at Trump’s failure to disclose his own returns.

The Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass) is allowed under federal law to inspect any American’s federal tax return.  But Neal has not yet moved to invoke that authority of requesting Trump’s returns.  He is citing the need to build a factual record justifying the request,  This is in the expectation that Trump will most likely sue to block the request.

The tax return hearing, Democratic aides say, is part of the effort to build that record, but it has frustrated some lawmakers and activists who believe Trump will resist the request whether it comes sooner or later.

“If we’re going to have a legal fight about it, better to start sooner rather than later,” said Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-Vir), reflecting the real sentiment among most Congressional Democrats.

However, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), another Ways and Means member who has spearheaded the effort to publicize Trump’s taxes, said it was appropriate to move carefully to avoid the concept of a politically tainted process.  Pascrell said he expected Chairman Neal to request the returns “within the next two or three months or sooner.”

“This needs to be done methodically,” he said. “There cannot be an ounce of ‘let’s go get him.’ ”

A House Democratic leadership aide said the go-slow approach on the tax returns was part of a “holistic approach” to investigating Trump’s finances.  An investigation that not only involves Ways and Means but also includes at least five other House committees.  “The tax returns are only one evidentiary piece of the larger puzzle about Trump’s finances,” said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for discussing their internal strategy. “In the end, we’ll likely need greater visibility into his finances beyond his tax returns to get the American people the answers they deserve.”

A Treasury department spokesman said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “will review any request with the Treasury general counsel for legality.”

Of course, other Republicans were not shy about going after the Democrats and accusing them of overreaching.

House Minority Leader, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called the Democrat’s effort totally “political” Wednesday and he urged Neal and Democrats to instead "focus on strengthening the economy."  Rep. Kevin Brady (Tex.), the top Ways and Means Republican, said it would be an “abuse of power in weaponizing the tax code to seek any individual’s private taxpayer returns” and to publicize them.  Sorry sir, they have the authority to request any Americans tax returns.

Obviously, they are ignoring their multiple investigations by Republicans into the Obama administration and the hours of testimony from Hillary Clinton before her presidential bid.

However, other Democratic investigators are adopting some legal but aggressive tactics.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that a subpoena was being arranged out of an “abundance of caution” to prevent Mathew Whitaker from improperly refusing to answer questions at his hearing.  The Democrats are expected to ask questions about the irregular circumstances that led to Whitaker’s appointment as former AG, Jeff Sessions’ replacement.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Bennie Thompson (D-MIS) last week publicly threatened to issue a subpoena for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, if she did not agree to testify voluntarily.  Thompson announced that Nielsen would testify on March 6.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is tentatively scheduled to appear before the panel next month.

“It’s nice to have academics and other very fine witnesses, but we want to hear directly from the administration,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)

Copyright G. Ater 2019