within the Judiciary Committee, and submitting to the House of Representatives “such resolutions, articles of impeachment, or other recommendations as it deems proper.”45
President Trump’s Unprecedented Order Not to Comply'
President Trump’s categorical and indiscriminate order and efforts to block witness testimony and conceal documentary evidence from the Committees investigating his conduct as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry stand in contrast to his predecessors and challenge the basic tenets of the Constitutional system of checks and balances.
Even before the House of Representatives launched its investigation regarding Ukraine, President Trump made numerous statements rejecting the fundamental authority of Congress to investigate his actions as well as those of his Administration. For example, on April 24, he stated, in response to Congressional investigations: “We’re fighting all the subpoenas.”46 Similarly, during a speech on July 23, he stated: “I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president.”47
When the three investigating Committees began reviewing the President’s actions as part of the House’s impeachment inquiry, President Trump repeatedly challenged the investigation’s legitimacy in word and deed. President Trump’s rhetorical attacks appeared intended not just to dispute public reports of his misconduct, but to persuade the public that the House lacks authority to investigate the President and the inquiry is therefore invalid and fraudulent. For example, the President described the impeachment inquiry as:
- “a COUP”48
- “illegal, invalid, and unconstitutional”49
- “an unconstitutional power grab”50
- “Ukraine Witch Hunt”51
- “a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time”52
- “a total Witch Hunt Scam by the Democrats”53
- “bad for the country”54
- “all a hoax”55
- “the single greatest witch hunt in American history”56
- “Democrat Scam”57
- “just another Democrat Hoax”58
- “a fraud against the American people”59
- “A Witch Hunt Scam”60
- “a con being perpetrated on the United States public and even the world”61
- “ridiculous”62
- “a continuation of the greatest Scam and Witch Hunt in the history of our Country”63
- “Ukraine Hoax”64
- “No Due Process Scam”65
- “the phony Impeachment Scam”66
- “the phony Impeachment Hoax”67
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