House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler on Thursday asked four House panels investigating President Donald Trump to share documents and other information with his committee for its impeachment investigation.
In a letter to the chairs of four key investigative committees, Nadler (D-N.Y.) asked them to share “documents and testimony, depositions, and/or interview transcripts” that might be relevant to the Judiciary Committee’s ongoing impeachment probe.
The letter — addressed to the leaders of the House Intelligence, Financial Services, Oversight and Reform and Foreign Affairs panels — also references the Judiciary panel’s recent pronouncement in various court filings that it is considering whether articles of impeachment are warranted.
Together, all five committees have launched investigations, interviewed witnesses, and subpoenaed documents relating to the president’s conduct, foreign business ties, presidential campaign, hush-money payments and personal finances.
Nadler’s request comes one day after Trump’s attorneys argued in a court filing that other committees seeking Trump’s records cannot invoke the possibility of impeachment as a justification.
Trump’s lawyers were responding to House General Counsel Douglas Letter’s argument that the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees can legally subpoena Trump’s financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One because the Judiciary Committee is conducting an impeachment investigation.
But the president’s attorneys said those panels have no right to obtain Trump’s financial documents because only the Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over impeachment.
Nadler’s letter does not reference that view, but it appears to be an attempt to formalize the process of sharing information that could help build the case for impeaching the president.
The letter does reference, though, the Judiciary Committee’s intention to work with the Intelligence Committee to review sensitive grand-jury information relating to counterintelligence. Nadler said his request to the other committees “would build on that sharing agreement and would similarly allow for sensitive or confidential information to be received.”
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine