Axios reported on Sunday night that the publication received a spreadsheet that has worked its way through House Republican offices. The item contains a list of possible investigations the Democrats may initiate if they take over the House in November.
Axios did not attach the spreadsheet to its piece, but listed a few of the investigations:
- President Trump’s tax returns
- Trump family businesses — and whether they comply with the Constitution’s emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
- Trump’s dealings with Russia, including the president’s preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
- The payment to Stephanie Clifford — a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
- James Comey’s firing
- Trump’s firing of U.S. attorneys
- Trump’s proposed transgender ban for the military
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s business dealings
- White House staff’s personal email use
- Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
- Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
- Jared Kushner’s ethics law compliance
- Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
- The travel ban
- Family separation policy
- Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
- Election security and hacking attempts
- White House security clearances
The list also includes “more than 100 formal requests from House Democrats this Congress, spanning nearly every committee.” It has “requests for administration officials to be grilled by committee staff, requests for hearings to obtain sworn testimony, efforts to seize communications about controversial policies and personnel decisions, and subpoena threats.”
Basically, it will “turn the Trump White House into a 24/7 legal defense operation.” Lawyers close to the White House told Axios that “the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency.”
The Democrats need to flip 24 Republican seats and hold the 194 seats they already hold.
Without control of the House, Democrats have largely remained mum about impeaching Trump. From Roll Call:
But Democrats are wary of prematurely brandishing the “I” word, even if they’re acting as megaphones for reports that Trump may be tied to criminal activity.“I don’t think we should be talking about it and embracing it before we’ve seen the full body of evidence,” Schiff, a former prosecutor, said of impeaching the president. “I like to know all the facts before I make a judgment.”Schiff and Pelosi have indicated that there would need to be a robust case against Trump for Democrats to consider impeachment because they’ll likely need more than a dozen Senate Republicans to vote with Democrats to remove him.“Given the dearth of people in the GOP who aren’t willing to say anything about this president’s conduct, I think you’re going to need a really powerful case to entertain that kind of a sanction.”
That may change if they grab the House in November considering the number of investigations the Democrats may launch.
In all honesty, in a sea of predictions and polls, it’s hard to determine who will win the House in November. I’ve seen people predict the Democrats will pick up 60+ seats while others believe they will win just enough to get control.
FiveThirtyEight’s polling gives Democrats a 72% chance of winning the House. The Cook Political Report isn’t as optimistic for the Democrats:
There are still more races in Lean Republican than Lean Democratic, and if those races fell to the favorites and the 30 Toss Ups were to split evenly, Democrats would gain 22 seats, one short of a majority. But there’s still time for many of the races in Lean and Likely Republican to develop into more competitive contests, and in wave election years, the Toss Ups typically break disproportionately towards one party.Democrats remain clear but not overwhelming House favorites. On the low end, it’s possible House control may not be decided until days after the election. It’s also possible a “Blue Wave” could propel Democrats to historic gains, well past the 23 they need. Right now, Democrats appear poised to gain between 20 and 40 seats, with 25 to 35 the likeliest outcome.
As for me, I wouldn’t be shocked by any result that comes in November. After November 2016 nothing shocks me when it comes to elections!
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