Mark Meadows
Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan Friday argued that President Donald Trump couldn’t have obstructed justice, as his staffers did not carry out some of his more controversial requests.
The three men sparred on CNN’s “New Day,” when network anchor Chris Cuomo asked them during a joint interview about statements made in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report concerning Trump directing former counsel Don McGahn to take steps toward removing Mueller from the investigation.
“The president goes to Don McGahn and says, ‘you need to do this to stop this,’ and the guy has to threaten to resign or leave for it not to happen,” said Cuomo. “And you ignore it. I think that matters too.”
Jordan, R-Ohio, and Meadows, R-N.C., though, argued that because McGahn refused, that means there was no obstruction.
“Asking matters, Jim,” Cuomo told Jordan. “If I ask you to punch Mr. Meadows and you don’t do it, the request was still wrong.”
“Yeah, the request may have been wrong, but it’s not a crime unless he assaults me,” Meadows said.
Meanwhile, the investigation was biased from the beginning, Meadows insisted.
“You know, we had James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and then we had Bob Mueller coming into it, right after he gets turned down for a job as the FBI director,” Meadows said. “Somehow people forget that and so to suggest that there was no bias at the predicate of this investigation is not accurate and I think we will see that in the coming days.”
Jordan added that he does not agree with Trump’s contention that Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election, but he does not think any collusion came into play.
Source: NewsMax Politics
House Republicans are reportedly warning drug companies that complying with a Democratic-led committee probe of drug prices could potentially hurt their stock prices.
GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina — leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus —sent letters to CEOs of 12 drug companies, implying leaks by House Oversight Committee head Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., could hurt the companies, BuzzFeed News reported.
Cummings requested information in January as part of a probe into how the industry sets prescription prices, the news outlet noted. But the conservative lawmakers warned what’s being sought is sensitive data “that would likely harm the competitiveness of your company if disclosed publicly.”
They accuse Cummings of “releasing cherry-picked excerpts from a highly sensitive closed-door interview” conducted in an investigation into White House security clearances. “This is not the first time he has released sensitive information unilaterally,” their letter states.
Cummings pushed back, saying about the top Republican on his committee: “Rep. Jordan is on the absolute wrong side here.”
“He would rather protect drug company ‘stock prices’ than the interests of the American people,” Cummings said in his statement, the news outlet reported.
Jordan’s office argued the letter doesn’t tell companies not to respond to Cummings’ requests, but encourages their cooperation with “responsible and legitimate” oversight, BuzzFeed News reported.
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Source: NewsMax Politics
The House Judiciary Committee’s vote approving subpoenas for the unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s full Russia report was not about transparency, but about the 2020 election, Rep. Mark Meadows said Wednesday.
“It’s all political theater and nothing to do with really getting to the truth,” the North Carolina Republican told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “I’ve been in the room with [Judiciary] Chairman [Jerrold] Nadler looking at truly trying to let the American people see what happened with this investigation, and he has been the one that has objected over and over and over again.”
Instead, Meadows said, the action was about trying to disparage President Donald Trump when Attorney General William Barr is “working with warp speed to get information to the American people…it is a sad day for Congress and I would say it’s a sad day for the American people.”
Meadows also slammed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., for his comments earlier Wednesday that even though Mueller couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there had been the crime of conspiracy between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, there was “plenty of evidence of collusion.”
“For two years he has told the American people that this was all about collusion and conspiracy,” Meadows said of Schiff. “Now he is trying to change the definition because his handpicked special prosecutor said there was no collusion, no conspiracy.”
Meadows also disagreed with contentions from Nadler that the law allows Barr the authority over what to release and what to keep private, as the law does not support releasing grand jury information.
Source: NewsMax Politics
FILE PHOTO – U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
March 27, 2019
By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A request by a leading Democrat for records of Donald Trump’s financial dealings before he became president set off a partisan squabble in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.
In a letter to the chairman and chief executive officer of Mazars USA LLP, an audit and accounting firm, Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, last week requested records related to personal financial statements the firm prepared for Trump in 2011-2013.
Republican leaders on Wednesday denounced Cummings’ move as an illegitimate effort to embarrass Trump.
In his letter, Cummings cited recent testimony before his committee by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen that Trump changed the estimated value of his assets and debts on financial statements prepared by Mazars.
Cohen told the committee during his testimony that Trump at times inflated the value of his assets, such as when he was preparing a bid for the Buffalo Bills National Football League team, and at times deflated them, such as when he wanted to reduce his real estate taxes.
But two Republican leaders on the committee, Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, who had publicly defended Trump and grilled Cohen during his testimony, on Wednesday questioned the legitimacy of Cummings’ request.
They said he was seeking information about Trump’s finances going back 10 years, well before Trump ran for office, adding that it “does not appear to have a valid legislative purpose and instead seems to seek information to embarrass a private individual.”
The Republicans also complained that Cummings did not consult with them before sending his letter to the accounting firm.
A spokesman said the White House had no comment. Mazars did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Source: OANN
The Democrat-led House Oversight and Reform Committee wants to pour over 10 years of President Donald Trump’s financial records — and the panel’s top Republicans are furious, Politico reported.
According to Trump allies GOP Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the committee asked tax and accounting firm Mazars USA for documents, particularly looking for those related to Trump’s 2014 effort to bid on the Buffalo Bills, Politico reported.
Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen told the panel last month Trump inflated his personal net worth by $4 billion as he looked into the purchase of the NFL team — a deal that never materialized.
Jordan and Meadows fired off a letter to panel chair, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., alleging the request “appears to depart from responsible and legitimate oversight,” and is intended “solely to embarrass President Trump and to advance the relentless Democrat attacks upon the Trump administration.”
“We should not waste our limited resources and energies on matters that do not improve the operations of the federal government or better the lives of our constituents,” Jordan and Meadows wrote, calling Cummings’ investigation “an ill-conceived inquiry into the finances of President Trump when he was a private citizen.”
According to Politico, the lawmakers sent a separate letter to Victor Wahba, the chairman and chief executive officer of Mazars USA, asserting Cummings didn’t consult with the GOP side of the panel committee before asking for the documents.
“They complain about everything I do,” a dismissive Cummings told Politico. “We’re just seeking the truth.”
Source: NewsMax Politics
Attorney General William Barr has made his determination about special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation . Now Democrats want to make their own.
The delivery Sunday of Barr's summary to Congress about Mueller's conclusions has opened a new chapter in the battle over the two-year investigation that is likely to consume Capitol Hill in the coming weeks and months. Democratic lawmakers are demanding a full look at Mueller's findings and dismissing Barr's summary as incomplete, at best, and biased, at worst.
They have seized on a line in the summary that says Mueller's report "does not exonerate" President Donald Trump on obstruction of justice — even though Barr concluded the evidence of obstruction is insufficient to find Trump committed a crime.
"The fact that Special Counsel Mueller's report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement. "Given Mr. Barr's public record of bias against the Special Counsel's inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report."
Given the report, Democrats seemed more likely to focus on their ongoing investigations, calls for transparency and frustrations with Barr, rather than engaging with the talk of impeachment that has been amplified on Pelosi's left flank. As the release of Mueller's report loomed, Pelosi recently tried to scuttle that talk by saying she's not for impeachment, for now.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who would lead any impeachment effort, said he would call Barr to testify soon "in light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department."
Yet while Democrats focused on the obstruction piece, Barr's summary report dealt their investigative efforts an undeniable blow by concluding that Trump's campaign never conspired with Russia. Top Democrats, now leading broad investigations of Trump in the House majority, had long suggested just the opposite.
"After 22 months of a special counsel and 2 years of congressional investigations, it's over," tweeted North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a close ally of Trump. "The clock has finally struck midnight on the 'Russian collusion' fantasy."
In a joint statement, Nadler, House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., almost seemed to concede that collusion had not been found, saying they have confidence in Mueller, "notwithstanding the very public evidence of Trump campaign contact with and willingness to receive support from Russian agents."
Still, they said, "it will be vital for the country and the Congress to evaluate the full body of evidence collected by the special counsel, including all information gathered of a counterintelligence nature."
Democrats discussed strategy in a flurry of calls over the weekend. Pelosi and Schumer talked repeatedly, including several calls Sunday from her home in San Francisco. As soon as Barr's letter arrived, Pelosi quickly convened a call Sunday with Cummings, Schiff and Nadler to go over its main points. They were on the same page with their response, according to a person familiar with the call. Nadler later held a conference call with Democratic members on the Judiciary panel and reiterated calls for transparency.
People familiar with the calls requested anonymity to discuss them freely.
Republicans unified to call for Congress to move on. "This case is closed," said House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy in a statement.
Trump celebrated the findings but did not appear ready to let the matter drop, calling the investigation "an illegal takedown that failed." He said that, "hopefully somebody's going to look at the other side," an apparent reference to Democrats.
Democratic calls for transparency on the Mueller report could set up a court battle with the Trump administration that could take months or years to resolve.
It's unclear what else is coming from Barr, though he states in the letter that he is working to make more information public. He said he will be consulting with Mueller to determine what else can be released. But whatever is provided is unlikely to be enough for Democrats, who have said they want all of Mueller's underlying evidence — including interviews, documents and material turned over to the grand jury.
Democrats have said they are willing to subpoena Mueller and Barr, if needed, to push for disclosure.
Though Trump himself has said the report should be made public, it's not clear whether the administration would fight subpoenas for testimony or block the transmission of grand jury material.
If the administration decides to fight, lawmakers could ask federal courts to step in and enforce a subpoena. A court fight could, in theory, reach the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, Democrats will keep the focus on full transparency.
"I don't want a summary of the Mueller report," tweeted Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate. "I want the whole damn report."
Source: NewsMax America
- Text messages show that a Justice Department official had “continued concerns” about the FBI’s applications to obtain FISA warrants on Carter Page.
- In Oct. 2016, Lisa Page, an FBI lawyer at the time, suggested Stuart Evans, the DOJ official who handles FISA applications, was concerned about the “possible bias” of an informant used to obtain the warrants.
- Lisa Page’s text message likely refers to Christopher Steele, the former British spy whose dossier was used to obtain the Carter Page FISAs.
A top Justice Department official had “continued concerns” about the “possible bias” of an FBI source used to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
That’s according to text messages former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and her boss, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, exchanged Oct. 12, 2016.
Nine days after the exchange, which Fox News first reported, the FBI successfully obtained the first of four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Carter Page. The bureau relied heavily on unverified information from a confidential informant, Christopher Steele, to obtain the warrants.
In the texts, Lisa Page suggested Stuart Evans, the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Intelligence, had concerns about the bias of a confidential human source (CHS) used for the FISA application, which she refers to as “the package.” (RELATED: FBI Had Only ‘Medium Confidence’ In Steele Dossier)
“[Office of Intelligence] now has a robust explanation re any possible bias of the chs in the package,” Lisa Page wrote McCabe.
“Don’t know what the holdup is now, other than Stu’s continued concerns. Strong operational need to have in place before Monday if at all possible, which means to ct [sic] tomorrow,” she continued.
As head of the Office of Intelligence, Evans was in charge of handling FISA applications for the Justice Department.
Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page arrives for her House Judiciary Committee deposition (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
Steele, a former MI6 officer, compiled a series of memos about then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign associates on behalf of Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that worked in 2016 for the Clinton campaign and DNC.
Republican lawmakers have accused the FBI of failing to provide all of the details about Steele and Fusion GPS to the FISA Court judges who approved the Carter Page warrants. Democrats’ funding for the dossier is not addressed in the FISA applications. Steele’s comments to Justice Department official Bruce Ohr that he was “desperate” to see Trump lose the election are also not included in the applications.
Republicans have also asserted the FBI had not verified Steele’s claims about Carter Page before using the information in the FISA applications.
Ohr told Congress in an Aug. 28, 2018, interview that he told the FBI at least a month before the FISA applications were submitted about Steele’s comments on Trump.
He said he informed the FBI because Steele’s bias could affect his credibility as an FBI informant.
“So there’s a possibility of bias, and that would affect the credibility of this confidential human source or the information you got from them?” Republican North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows asked Ohr.
“Yes,” replied Ohr, whose wife worked as a contractor for Fusion GPS.
“I provided information to the FBI when I thought Christopher Steele was, as I said, desperate that Trump not be elected. So, yes, of course, I provided that to the FBI,” Ohr added.
In her texts with McCabe, Lisa Page suggested the bureau would have to exert pressure on DOJ’s Evans to push through the Carter Page FISA application.
“I communicated you and boss’s green light to Stu earlier, and just sent an email to Stu asking where things stood. This might take a high-level push,” she wrote.
Carter Page, an energy consultant, has vehemently denied the allegations about him found in the Steele dossier. In the report, Steele alleges Page was the Trump campaign’s liaison to the Kremlin, that he came up with the idea to release DNC emails through WikiLeaks, and that he offered to relax sanctions against Russia in exchange for a brokerage stake in a multi-billion dollar deal involving Rosneft, the Russian oil giant.
Page, who has testified before special counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury, has not been accused of any crimes.
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Source: The Daily Caller
President Donald Trump on Thursday blasted former House Speaker Paul Ryan for not letting Republicans "go tougher" on Democrats.
"Paul Ryan wouldn't give the right to have any subpoenas," Trump told Breitbart News in an interview.
Trump did not specify what Ryan's colleagues wanted to investigate, but he said Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., "wanted to go tougher, but they weren't allowed to by leadership."
"So, here's the thing — it's so terrible what's happening. You know, the left plays a tougher game, it's very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don't play it tougher," he continued.
"OK? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump — I have the tough people, but they don't play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad," Trump said.
"The left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress . . . with all this [investigating] — that's all they want to do is — you know, they do things that are nasty. Republicans never played this," he added.
Ryan has not publicly responded to Trump's remarks.
Source: NewsMax Politics
Michael Cohen is off the hook for misleading the House Oversight Committee about his claim he never asked President Donald Trump for a pardon, The Washington Times reported.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said the president's onetime personal lawyer has now clarified through his own attorney that his testimony "could have been clearer," the news outlet reported.
"Our practice on this committee is to give witnesses an opportunity to clarify their testimony, and that is what Mr. Cohen has done," Cummings said, the news outlet reported. "I do not see the need for further action — at least at this time."
In his Feb. 27 opening statement to the committee, Cohen declared: "I have never asked for, nor would I accept, a pardon from President Trump."
His lawyers say he stands by that statement — but only in reference to after June 2018, when he left a joint defense agreement with Trump, the news outlet reported. They also admit a previous attorney acting on behalf of Cohen did sound out the president's lawyers about a pardon.
The excuse did not fly with Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who have already asked the Justice Department to investigate if Cohen should face new charges over misleading the committee, the Times reported.
"They're walking back a claim made unequivocally under oath. 'Never' didn't really mean 'never.' Laughable," Meadows tweeted.
Source: NewsMax Politics
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