The general counsel of the House of Representatives told judges on Nov. 18 that the impeachment inquiry includes looking at whether President Donald Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller during the yearslong probe into the Trump-Russia collusion theory.
Neither Trump nor his campaign conspired or cooperated with Russia, Muellers team said after the lengthy investigation. Trump answered a series of questions from Muellers team in writing. The answers were included in the final report.
House Democrats are now officially probing Trumps statements to Mueller as part of an ongoing effort to remove Trump from office.
“There is evidence that the president may have provided untruthful answers,” Douglas Letter, the House general counsel, told a panel of three judges on a federal appeals court in Washington, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Letter couldnt provide specific examples but claimed one possible point of contention lay behind the redactions involving Trumps former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Manafort was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in March for crimes unrelated to Trumps campaign, including money laundering. Manafort “is not before the court for any allegations that he, or anyone at his direction, colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election,” Ronald Reagan-appointed Judge T.S. Ellis III said in court. Manafort was later sentenced to another 43 months in jail.
A lawyer for Trump, Jay Sekulow, told the Journal about Letters claims: “Read the answers to questions. They speak for themselves.”
Mueller made an unusual prosecutorial decision when he didnt decide whether or not to recommend charges Trump, prompting harsh criticism from some but leaving opponents room to claim Trump obstructed the special counsels team.
The impeachment inquiry was triggered by a complaint from an anonymous CIA employee over Trumps July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” allegations of corruption surrounding former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 presidential contender, and Bidens son, Hunter Biden, who worked for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma from 2014 to 2019.
Joe Biden said last year that in 2016 he threatened to withhold $1 billion from Ukraine unless a prosecutor who was investigating Burisma was ousted. The prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, said he resigned under pressureRead More – Source
