We don’t need to rely only on the indictable instances of Obstruction of Justice set out in the Mueller Report. (Mueller Report, Vol. II) The Trump Administration’s obstruction and corruption continues unabated. Over just the last 24 hours, this happened:
The Trump administration refused to comply, for a second time, with a deadline to release Trump’s tax returns to Congress.
“A White House official said that President Trump would not comply with a Tuesday deadline set by House Democrats to release his tax returns to Congress, setting up what was expected to be an extended legal clash between two branches of government.” ~ NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/us/politics/trump-taxes.html
Trump and his businesses sued their own accounting firm and Rep. Cummings to block a subpoena of his financial records.
“President Trump sued his own accounting firm and the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee at the same time Monday — trying an unusual tactic to stop the firm from giving the committee details about Trump’s past financial dealings.” ~ Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-sues-in-bid-to-block-congressional-subpoena-of-financial-records/2019/04/22/a98de3d0-6500-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html?utm_term=.89bc46257912
The White House instructed the official responsible for overturning the denial of Kushner’s security clearance to ignore a subpoena.
“A former White House personnel security director has been instructed by the White House not to show up Tuesday for questioning by the House Oversight Committee. The move appears to be the latest effort by the Trump administration to push back against congressional inquiries targeting the White House, which have proliferated since Democrats took control of the House in January.” ~ Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/23/white-house-instructs-official-ignore-democratic-subpoena-over-security-clearances/?utm_term=.b9778d0c9489
Furthermore, in the GOP’s continuing effort to downplay the seriousness of the “sweeping and systematic” interference by Russia in the 2016 Election (Mueller Report,Vol. 1, p. 1), today Jared Kushner brushed off the Special Counsel’s hundreds of pages of facts as just
“a couple of Facebook ads.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/04/23/couple-facebook-ads-jared-kushner-pooh-poohs-russian-election-interference/?utm_term=.3bbcaf9dc048
Democratic Party Chair Tom Perez responded today with an open letter to his Republican counterpart, which reads, in part:
Dear Chairwoman McDaniel,This weekend, Rudy Giuliani said there is “nothing wrong with taking information from Russians” and suggested that it is perfectly acceptable for campaigns to seek stolen information from foreign adversaries for political gain. This is an affront to our democracy that must be condemned by anyone who cares about our country’s future.
As the leaders of our country’s two largest political parties, we have a responsibility to protect the integrity of our democratic process. That’s why I urge you to join me in condemning the weaponization of stolen private data in our electoral process.….
… This is not about red and blue. This is about red, white, and blue. It’s about our national security. It’s about the future of our country and the integrity of our democracy. It’s about restoring people’s faith in our institutions and our election process.
Thanks for speaking out, Chair Perez! But, we’re not holding our breath that this Republican Party will honorably respond.
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