Is the White House Counsel a crook? House Dems demand answers
You don’t have to break the letter of the law to be a crook. Case in point: Don McGahn. Remember that name, because NBB thinks we will be hearing more of it this week.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee want to know whether McGahn, the White House Counsel, had unethical, inappropriate, and/or corrupt contact with law enforcement officials. The Hill reports:
Several Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee plan to send a letter Monday to White House Counsel Don McGahn, asking him to detail communications between his office and the FBI and Justice Department.
“We write to express our concern regarding reports of improper contacts between your office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, concerning the FBI’s ongoing review of efforts by the Russian government to unlawfully influence the U.S> presidential election in favor of Mr. Trump,” the letter begins.
The Democratic lawmakers go on to detail the events of the weekend, after President Trump tweeted an unsubstantiated claim that President Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential election.
The signatories — including Reps. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (New York), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Hank Johnson (Ga.), Ted Deutch (Fla.), Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), Ted Lieu (Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.) — point out that, “No substantiation was offered for this accusation.”
But “more troubling,” they say, are reports of contact between McGahn’s office and law enforcement. The letter offers examples of reporting that said White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked the FBI director to knock down reports of Trump campaign ties to Russia.
“If these reports are accurate, then these communications are both inappropriate and in violation of Department of Justice guidance,” the Democrats write.
