House Democrats announced they are launching a “broad investigation” into President Trump’s efforts to determine if Ukraine officials attempted to damage his 2016 campaign.
The chairmen of the House Oversight, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence committees announced they are also investigating whether Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, are improperly pursuing information related to whether former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who was on the board of a Ukraine energy company, improperly benefited from his father’s White House role.
“A growing public record indicates that, for nearly two years, the President and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, appear to have acted outside legitimate law enforcement and diplomatic channels to coerce the Ukrainian government into pursuing two politically-motivated investigations under the guise of anti-corruption activity,” the chairmen wrote Monday to White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The letter is signed by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of California, and Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel of New York.
The three lawmakers accuse Trump of increasing pressure on the Ukraine government to provide information about the two matters in order to benefit President Trump’s reelection efforts.
Giuliani has said he has pursued the information from Ukraine as a private citizen, but the lawmakers said the State Department has helped arrange meetings between Giuliani and Ukraine officials, creating confusion about Giuliani’s role.
The lawmakers are demanding documents and emails related to their accusations to be turned over by Sept. 16.
“Congress has a constitutionally-mandated obligation to conduct oversight, protect the sanctity of our elections, and ensure that the nation’s diplomatic resources and foreign assistance are being deployed for the benefit of the United States, not the personal interests of the President,” the lawmakers wrote to Cipollone and Pompeo.
Numerous media reports have outlined a potential conflict of interest that existed when Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukraine gas company Burisma Holdings in 2014, after which Joe Biden, in his role of vice president, urged the country to step up its energy production.
Giuliani in May called for an investigation into Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine in 2016 when he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine did not dismiss Viktor Shokin, the country’s prosecutor general. Shokin, who was accused of corruption, was voted out by the Ukrainian Parliament soon after.
Biden’s son, Hunter, stood to benefit from the decision because he was on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian businessman that was being targeted by the prosecutor.
