In a federal court filing yesterday, lawyers for the House Judiciary admitted that they were still pursuing evidence that could lead to new articles of impeachment against Trump:
POLITICO – The House is open to the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump a second time, lawyers for the Judiciary Committee said Monday.
House Counsel Douglas Letter said in a filing in federal court that a second impeachment could be necessary if the House uncovers new evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct investigations of his conduct. Letter made the argument as part of an inquiry by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals into whether Democrats still need testimony from former White House counsel Don McGahn after the votes last week to charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“If McGahn’s testimony produces new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses that are not covered by the Articles approved by the House, the Committee will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment,” Letter wrote.
It’s the first impeachment-related filing by the House since lawmakers voted, mostly along party lines, to impeach Trump over allegations stemming from efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rivals. It comes just hours after the Justice Department argued that the impeachment votes undercut lawmakers’ ongoing court case demanding testimony from McGahn, who was special counsel Robert Mueller’s central witness.
This news isn’t going over well will Republicans like Lindsey Graham:
Best evidence yet that Democrats don’t believe they can beat president @realDonaldTrump at the ballot box.
Legal filings by Democrat lawyer suggests new impeachment Articles could be in the works based on testimony from the Mueller investigation. https://t.co/opD3qFWoUX
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 23, 2019
Democrats are treating impeachment as an open bar tab.
Time to cut them off, take their car keys away (put GOP in control of the House), and end this insanity.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 23, 2019
This is just a hunch, but I don’t think the House really wants to pursue more articles of impeachment against Trump. I think they are just making this legal argument with the court in order to convince the court to force Don McGahn to testify before the House. They’d love more than anything for McGahn to somehow damage Trump with his testimony regarding the Mueller investigation.
The DOJ is arguing that the courts should refrain from getting involved in this because the House has already voted to impeach Trump, saying “the primary justification for its decision to sue no longer exists.”