House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) laid out the Democrats’ strategy heading into the 2020 elections: Charge Trump with a cover up. Forget about the long-awaited March 22 Mueller Report that essentially cleared 72-year-old President Donald Trump of wrongdoing in the 22-month Special Counsel investigation in Russian meddling in the 2020 election and alleged Trump collusion with Russia. Republicans can’t, to this point, challenge the Democrat narrative that Trump’s obstructing justice, refusing respond of Congressional subpoenas for more information on the Mueller Report. Republicans haven’t figured out how to stop the Democrats’ narrative, charging Trump with a cover up. Trump’s called the Mueller investigation a hoax from the beginning, finally vindicated with Mueller’s final report. But instead of accepting the Report, Democrats doubled-down on the obstruction charge.
Trump tried to counter Pelosi’s cover up charge, stating for the record there’s nothing to cover up, since the Special Counsel found no underlying crime of collusion and no basis to charge Trump with obstruction. “Get these phony investigations over,” Trump told Pelosi today at the White House, prompting the House speaker to charge Trump with a “cover up.” No matter what Trump does to refute the Democrat narrative, Pelosi continues with her 2020 talking points. Trump objects to weaponizing House Committees led by Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Government Reform and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Finance Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) issuing subpoenas indiscriminately for additional information from the Mueller Report and Trump’s personal taxes and finances.
Pelosi has the mainstream press behind her charging Trump with a “cover up,” despite not saying what he’s covering up. Once Atty. Gen. William Barr summarized the Mueller Report March 24, essentially clearing Trump, Democrats went into overdrive to redo Mueller’s findings to suit their 2020 campaign strategy against Trump. “For some reason, maybe it was a lack of confidence on his part that he couldn’t match the greatness of the challenge we have . . he just took a pass,” Pelosi said, blaming Trump for not doing infrastructure while Congress looks to impeachment. Pelosi met today with her caucus, demanding that the House start an impeachment inquiry. “The time has come to start an impeachment inquiry,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), urging Pelosi to jump on the impeachment train. Pelosi knows that any impeachment proceeding would end in failure in the U.S. Senate.
Impeachment zealots believe that Trump has no right to resist House subpoenas for whatever reason, even pure election-year politics. Trump declared executive privilege May 8 preventing his White House Counsel Don McGahan from responding to the House Judiciary Committee subpoena. When it comes to the clash of Article 1 [Congress] or Article 2 [Presidency] powers, it’s clear that the stalemate can only be resolved in the courts. Trump doesn’t believe the House can issue subpoenas willy-nilly for political purposes. He believes the Mueller Report was the final arbiter on all criminal matters related to Russian colluion. “Congress has patiently tried to work within traditional means to get to the bottom of this extraordinary situation,” Scanlon said. “But we have reached an inflection point,” hinting that impeachment comes next. Scanlon doesn’t see abuse of House Article 1 powers.
Pelosi has resisted calls for impeachment knowing it could backfire politically on Democrats heading into 2020. Any dramatic defeat in the U.S. Senate would make House Democrats look bad, especially those from historically Republican districts. Pelosi can’t shout about “cover up” without specifying what Trump’s covering up. Making the charge without getting specific makes Democrats look like they’re playing politics heading into the 2020 election. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried her best in the 2016 to accuse Trump of working for the Kremlin, something that the Mueller investigation tried to prove. Nearly two years later, Mueller stated emphatically that no one in the Trump campaign or anyone else coordinated or conspired with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. Yet Pelosi insists that Trump’s covering something up because he won’t respond to House subpoenas.
Trump has said he won’t respond to House subpoenas having to do with the Special Counsel investigation or to matters related to his personal finances. House Committees have abused their Article 1 powers, issuing subpoenas purely for politics. There’s nothing wrong with the White House resisting House subpoenas, especially when they ignore the Mueller investigation findings. Re-litigating the Mueller Report puts Trump into double jeopardy, cherry picking the findings for the purpose of hurting Trump before the 2020 presidential election. White House officials can resist indiscriminate House subpoenas, knowing they breach Congress’ oversight capacity to continue throwing mud on the president. Pelosi knows she’s abused her Article 1 powers, knowing that she agreed to accept the Mueller investigation’s findings as final. Issuing subpoenas without a legal basis renders the subpoenas invalid, knowing they’re done for purely political purposes.
