Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress, even Trump on document requests that he knows Democrats will prevail.
Chairman Schiff said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:
No one is above the law, not even the President of the United States. Nor are they immune from congressional oversight or criminal investigation, no matter how much they endeavor to delay or evade them.
For over a year, President Trump and his Administration have sought to obstruct the Committee’s duly authorized subpoena to Deutsche Bank. While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court abandoned its prior precedent and promulgated a new standard for Congressional subpoenas implicating the President, we are grateful that the Court reaffirmed Congress’ broad power to investigate in aid of its legislative authority. The dubious legal arguments advanced by Donald Trump and Bill Barr would have undermined the separation of powers and were properly rejected by the Court.
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Congress has the constitutional power, and the duty, to serve as an effective check on the President and the Executive Branch. The Court’s decision today makes clear that President Trump is not absolutely immune from such Congressional scrutiny. The Committee’s investigation is also vital to ensuring our national security. The specific documents the Committee has requested from Deutsche Bank are critical to its investigation of whether foreign actors, particularly Russia, have leverage over President Trump, his family, and his businesses, and whether legislation is needed to guard against such dangerous conflicts of interest and foreign influence.
The Supreme Court’s remand of this case to permit the lower courts to apply the new standard will serve to delay the Committee’s investigation — and, given the risk of foreign influence over this President, such delay is dangerous — but we remain confident that we will ultimately prevail. And in light of the President’s tweets this morning, he appears to believe the same.
Chairman Schiff is correct. Trump is melting down on Twitter because he knows that he is going to lose. The Supreme Court rejected unanimously Trump’s claim that he is above the law and does not have to answer to subpoenas. The House committees may have to narrow down their document requests when the case goes back to the lower court, but the Supreme Court that Trump can’t ignore congressional subpoenas.
House Democrats are going to win, and even Trump knows it to be true.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
