The Democrat-dominated US House Judiciary Committee has authorised Jerrold Nadler, the committee’s chairman, to issue subpoenas for Trumps advisers, both current and former, which could include Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The subpoenas are related to a probe into allegations of obstruction of justice by Trump, previously addressed in the Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation.
"We will not rest until we obtain their testimony and documents", Nadler said in a statement.
Additionally, the panel's chairman will be able to subpoena members of the Trump administration related to the formation of its immigration policies, such as the "zero tolerance" policy, as well as documents related to them. The panel particularly wants to determine whether Trump's team was considering pardoning Homeland Security officials working on various immigration issues.
The subpoenas that were authorised on 11 July are part of wider efforts by Democrats, which they announced earlier this year, to run numerous probes into US President Donald Trump's controversial actions. The Democrats are trying to prove that the president is guilty of obstructing justice, something that the Mueller probe failed to prove in the almost two-year long investigation.
....conflicted and compromised Mueller again. He said he was “done” after his last 9 minute speech, and that he had nothing more to say outside of the No Collusion, No Obstruction, Report. Enough already, go back to work! I won, unanimously, the big Emoluments case yesterday!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2019
Trump has repeatedly slammed such probes as "witch hunts" and accused the Democrats of obstructing his work as president. He noted that the people involved in the investigations have already "spent hours […] and a fortune on lawyers" proving that there was no obstruction or any other crime committed by him.
In the final report on his investigation, Robert Mueller stated that he couldn't conclude that Trump had obstructed justice in any way, but also added that he was unable to completely exonerate him. While the president saw the report as a victory, his opponents in the Democratic Party saw an opportunity in Mueller's choice of words to continue their own congressional probes into Trump and those closest to him.
