Tag: U.S. House

Rep. David Cicilline says Sean Hannity should be subpoenaed over Michael Cohen

Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo, Epa, REX, Shutterstock

Fox News host asserts in interview with Trump that Cohen gave him information that conflicts with his Oversight testimony

Fox News host Sean Hannity appeared to insert himself into the congressional investigation of President Donald Trump in an interview with Trump aired Thursday night, leading to speculation that he could be subpoenaed.

Hannity asserted to the president that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney who testified in front of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, gave him information that conflicts with Cohen’s testimony.

Cohen explained to the committee that Trump directed him to make illegal hush money payments to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels.

View the complete March 1 article by Ben Peters on The Roll Call website here.

House panel seeks to interview Trump Organization executive

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are planning to request that Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg appear before the panel for questioning, an aide confirmed Thursday.

“The Committee anticipates bringing in Mr. Weisselberg,” the aide told The Hill.

Weisselberg’s attorney declined to comment.

View the complete February 28 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

House Democrats see new probes in Cohen’s testimony

Michael Cohen was asked who else Democrats should investigate during his testimony before the House Oversight Committee Feb. 27. Here is who he named. (Video: Taylor Turner/Photo: Danielle Kunitz/The Washington Post)

House Democrats on Thursday made plans to dig deeper into President Trump’s business and charity, using testimony from former Trump attorney Michael Cohen as a road map to call new witnesses and seek new internal documents.

The House Intelligence Committee said it anticipates bringing in for questioning the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. It also plans to interview Felix Sater, a former Trump business associate who helped Trump develop a hotel in Manhattan.

The House Financial Services Committee said it would look into the Donald J. Trump Foundation, Trump’s charity. The Intelligence Committee expressed interest in Cohen’s comments on Russia. And Ways and Means Committee members again discussed the best way to obtain Trump’s tax returns.

House passes bill expanding background checks on gun sales

The House passed a bipartisan bill that would require all gun sellers to conduct background checks on firearm sales in a 240-190 vote on Wednesday.

While the bill — spearheaded by Reps. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) and Pete King (R-N.Y.) — had five Republican co-sponsors, it passed largely along party lines, with just eight GOP lawmakers voting in favor of the measure. Two Democrats opted to vote against it.

The bill was amended at the eleventh hour after Democrats failed to whip enough votes against a Republican-backed motion to recommit that would require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be notified when immigrants who do not have legal status attempt to purchase a firearm.

View the complete February 27 article yb Juliegrace Brufke on The Hill website here.

House Democrats will subpoena Trump administration over family separations

The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday voted to subpoena the Trump administration over documents related to the policy of separating children from families at the southern border.

This will be the first subpoena issued since Democrats took control of the House and promised to hold President Trump accountable. The vote was bipartisan, with Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) voting with all the Democrats.

Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said the committee has been asking the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services (HHS) for information for seven months.

View the complete February 26 article by Nathaniel Weixel on The Hill website here.

Border rebuke looms for Trump

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) isn’t going to use political capital to fight a Democratic-sponsored resolution disapproving of President Trump’s emergency declaration for the U.S.-Mexico border.

Instead, the GOP leader will bide his time and pick his battles carefully, avoiding a confrontation with fellow Republican senators who think Trump’s use of the emergency declaration to build border barriers is a policy mistake that sets a bad precedent.

At the same time, McConnell isn’t sitting on the sidelines for what’s shaping up as one of the biggest fights of the 116th Congress. He has briefed Trump on what to expect when the Senate takes up the disapproval resolution and has warned the president that he is likely to lose the simple-majority vote in the upper chamber, according to a source familiar with McConnell’s advice. 

View the complete February 26 article by Alexander Bolton on The Hill website here.

House votes to overturn Trump’s emergency declaration

The House passed legislation Tuesday to block President Trump’s emergency declaration at the southern border, marking an unprecedented congressional challenge to a president’s authority to invoke emergency powers.

The resolution passed easily through the Democratic-controlled chamber, 245-182, with Democrats voting unanimously to send it to the Senate. The GOP-led upper chamber is expected to hold a vote on the measure in the coming weeks.

Republican leaders, who had clambered to limit defections in their ranks heading into Tuesday’s vote, were largely successful: 13 Republicans joined with Democrats to admonish Trump’s move — well short of the number Democrats would need to overturn the president’s promised veto.

View the complete February 26 article by Juliegrace Brufke on The Hill website here.

House Democrats to challenge Trump’s emergency declaration; Republicans divided on action

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Feb. 14 that Democrats will be ready to respond if President Trump declares a national emergency at the border. (Reuters)

House Democrats are gearing up to pass a joint resolution disapproving of President Trump’s emergency declaration to build his U.S.-Mexico border wall, a move that will force Senate Republicans to vote on a contentious issue that divides their party.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Thursday evening in an interview with The Washington Post that the House would take up the resolution in the coming days or weeks. The measure is expected to easily clear the Democratic-led House, and because it would be privileged, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be forced to put the resolution to a vote that he could lose.

“This is a gross abuse of presidential power,” Nadler said of the news that Trump would declare a national emergency to try to move money around to fulfill one of his central campaign promises. “This is an attempt to overturn the basic constitutional doctrine of separation of powers. Congress has the power of the purse. It cannot be tolerated.”

View the complete February 14 article by Rachael Bade, Seung Min Kim, Mike DeBonis and Paul Kane on The Washington Post website here.

Rule change sharpens Dem investigations into Trump

A change to House rules is putting sharper teeth into Democratic investigations of President Trump and his administration.

The change allows staff of House committees to conduct depositions without any lawmakers present, freeing up the panels to move through witnesses in their investigations quickly without the constraints of the previous Congress.

The change will offer Democrats on powerful House committees including Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Judiciary substantial momentum as they open wide-ranging probes into Trump, producing new headaches for the White House as the president readies his reelection bid.

View the complete February 14 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

McConnell to set up vote on Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘Green New Deal’

The Senate will hold a vote on the Green New Deal, an environmental and energy plan touted by progressives, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Tuesday.

McConnell told reporters after a meeting of the Senate Republican caucus that he has “great interest” in the plan, which would spell an end for coal, a key economic driver in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, while promising new jobs for out-of-work miners and other workers.

“We’ll give everybody an opportunity to go on record and see how they feel about the Green New Deal,” McConnell said.

View the complete February 12 article by Jordain Carney, Timothy Cama and Miranda Green on The Hill website here.