Waging a Constitutional war between the Legislative and Executive Branches, 79-year-old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and 59-year-old House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) declared war on 73-year-old President Donald Trump. Let there be no mistake, today’s impeachment battle is really a Constitutional battle over Article 1 [Congress] and Article 2 [Presidency], as Schiff & Co. try to bully the White House with subpoenas ostensibly to fulfill oversight duties but in reality it’s pure political harassment. White House officials responded to Schiff’s salvos today refusing to let U.S. European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland testify before Shiff’s committee. Schiff sees everything as White House stonewalling not undeniable abuse and overreach by House Democrats into the Executive branch of government.
Schiff, House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Government Reform and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), decided after Special Counsel Robert Muller delivered his final report to Congress March 23 that the House must pick up where Mueller left off. Mueller left it without charging Trump or any of his administration with Russian collusion or any other crime related to his 22-month, $30 million investigation into allegations about Trump’s involvement with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign. Once Democrats got Mueller’s findings, they took that as a license to investigate impeachable offenses anywhere they could find them. For months, Schiff, Nadler and Cummings accused Trump of “obstruction of justice,” until a Sept 24 whistleblower report indicated that Trump tried to improperly influence Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens.
Once the whistleblower report went public accusing Trump of withholding military aid in exchange for dirt on 50-year-old Hunter Biden Sept. 24, Pelosi decided to start impeachment proceedings against Trump. Instead of hearing from the White House, Pelosi acquiesced to her Party’s left wing, led by 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), to start impeachment hearings. Pelosi admitted that the impeachment proceedings would focus only on Trump’s July 25 phone call to Zelensky in which he allegedly abused his power to get dirt on Hunter Biden. Democrats claim that Trump violated U.S. election laws interfering with the 2020 presidential election. Schiff claims that Sondland turned over his texts-and-emails to the State Department but is now blocked from giving them to his committee. Schiff sees the White House move as evidence of White House “obstruction.”
Schift can’t see that he’s abusing his oversight powers infringing on the White House to claim he has a right to any-and-all documents related to the Executive Branch. Just because Schiff issues subpoenas, it doesn’t mean the White House is stonewalling when it says, “no.” Schiff has abused his Article 1 oversight authority so far he can’t see how as a matter of Constitutional law it encroaches on the Trump’s Article 2 authority. Trump’s entitled to executive privilege, a long-held Article 2 authority, to keep his communications with White House officials and foreign leaders private. Congress has a right to oversight but not to spy on the White House because it believes it’s warranted. That was the same abuse committed by the FBI and former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department and National Security Agency when they opened up a counterintelligence investigation into Trump in 2016.
Former FBI Director James Comey justified the operation claiming he had ample probable cause but could never say what it was. Comey used former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s opposition research against Trump AIKA “the dossier,” to justify opening the counterintelligence investigation, going to the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act. [FISA] court to wiretap Trump’s campaign aids. Just as the FBI and Obama Justice Department abused their authority, the House Intelligence, Judiciary and Oversight committees have abused their oversight authority. “It is an abuse of power for him [Trump] to act this way,” Pelosi said. “And that is one of reasons we have an impeachment inquiry,” the other one being to throw as much mud on Trump before the 2020 presidential election. Pelosi has zero awareness of how she has abused her Article 1 Congressional authority.
When House Democrats didn’t accept the Special Counsel’s findings March 23, they began the egregious abuse of their Article 1 powers. Before Mueller delivered his final report, House Democrats said they had utmost confidence in his ability to deliver an impartial verdict. But once Mueller essentially cleared Trump, House Democrats went into overdrive, abusing their Article 1 authority, to find impeachable offenses. “The failure to produce this witness, the failure to produce these documents, we consider yet additional strong evidence of obstruction” Schiff said. Schiff is so detached from Constitutional law, he can’t see how he’s abused his oversight authority to harass the Executive Branch. Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and Cummings all seem hell-bent on impeaching Trump to help Democrats win the 2020 presidential election. Beyond that, they’ve started a Constitutional war between Article 1 and Article 2.
