Don McGahn
Democrat House Counsel Doug Letter suggested in court filing on Monday that the Judiciary Committee will move to impeach President Trump again if testimony from Trump’s former White House Counsel Don McGahn produces new evidence of ‘impeachable offenses.’
Judiciary Committee lawyers on Monday made their first argument in court since the House voted to impeach President Trump on two articles of impeachment last week without naming any crimes.
Don McGahn refused to testify in the House impeachment hearings so the Dems’ lawyers were back in court arguing they still need testimony from McGahn.
Politico reported:
House Counsel Douglas Letter said in a filing in federal court that a second impeachment could be necessary if the House uncovers new evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct investigations of his conduct. Letter made the argument as part of an inquiry by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals into whether Democrats still need testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn after the votes last week to charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“If McGahn’s testimony produces new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses that are not covered by the Articles approved by the House, the Committee will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment,” Letter wrote.
Earlier Monday Justice Department lawyers argued that the Democrats’ partisan impeachment vote last week undercut their ongoing demands for testimony from McGahn.
DOJ lawyers said in a brief filed Monday morning that the House Judiciary Committee’s decision to move forward with impeachment without Don McGahn’s testimony proves there is no urgent need for him to testify to lawmakers.
DOJ lawyers also argued in a separate brief that the Democrats’ move to impeach President Trump over his dealings with Ukraine shows the Judiciary Committee conceded that the search for impeachable offenses stemming from the Mueller investigation is over.
“McGahn’s testimony is critical both to a Senate trial and to the Committee’s ongoing impeachment investigations to determine whether additional Presidential misconduct warrants further action by the Committee,” Doug Letter wrote.
The DOJ argued that the judiciary should stay the hell out of the dispute between the executive branch and legislative branch as impeachment moves to a Senate trial.
“If this Court now were to resolve the merits question in this case, it would appear to be weighing in on a contested issue in any impeachment trial,” the DOJ legal team wrote, according to Politico. “The now very real possibility of this Court appearing to weigh in on an article of impeachment at a time when political tensions are at their highest levels — before, during, or after a Senate trial regarding the removal of a President — puts in stark relief why this sort of interbranch dispute is not one that has ‘traditionally thought to be capable of resolution through the judicial process.’”
“This Court should decline the Committee’s request that it enter the fray and instead should dismiss this fraught suit between the political branches for lack of jurisdiction,” the Justice Department lawyers added.
The next court date where both cases will be heard is January 3.
Meanwhile, Speaker Pelosi is a tyrant who believes she is in charge of the Senate and is refusing to deliver the articles of impeachment unless they bow to her demands.
