‘Unlimited Presidential Harassment’: Trump blasts House Intel chair for financial investigation

7 Feb, 2019 14:14 / Updated 5 years ago

President Trump unloaded on House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff, after Schiff announced a new investigation into the president’s finances. The investigation is one of several Democrat-led probes targeting the president.

Schiff announced the investigation on Wednesday, which will focus on “credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise” involving Trump’s businesses. The probe will go “beyond Russia” and investigate whether “the Saudis or anyone else” has leverage over Trump, Schiff told reporters.

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Russia, of course, will still feature front and center. Under the leadership of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (California), the committee found no evidence of ‘Russian collusion,’ but Schiff said on Wednesday that the investigation would continue to look for links between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016. The committee also voted to turn over transcripts of its prior probe to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing Russia investigation.

Trump unloaded on Schiff. “So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so,” he tweeted on Thursday. “Never happened before! Unlimited Presidential Harassment.”

“The Dems and their committees are going ‘nuts,’” Trump continued, before calling the new investigation “a continuation of Witch Hunt.”

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that Schiff “has no basis to do that,” adding “No other politician has to go through that...it really does hurt our country.”

Schiff swiped back at Trump on Twitter, snarking “I can understand why the idea of meaningful oversight terrifies the President. Several of his close associates are going to jail, others await trial, and criminal investigations continue.”

Schiff’s investigation was announced one day after Trump urged his Democratic opponents to reject “the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution” in his second State of the Union address. The president warned Democrats that “ridiculous partisan investigations” would hurt the US economy.

“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” he said. “It just doesn’t work that way!”

House Democrats, now in the majority, haven’t heeded the president’s warnings. The House Judiciary Committee will meet on Thursday to vote on issuing a subpoena to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to compel him to testify about Trump’s firing of his predecessor. The Ways and Means Committee will also meet Thursday to begin its pursuit of Trump’s tax returns, while an Appropriations subcommittee has asked the Government Accountability Office to issue an opinion on the loss of fees at national parks during the recent government shutdown.

The House Oversight Committee has also opened a hearing into an alleged “ethics crisis” in Trump’s administration, while multiple other panels hold hearings on climate change, gun violence, and Trump’s immigration and foreign policies.

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