House Judiciary Launches Probe Of Allegations Of Obstruction By President Trump

Updated at 1:06 p.m. ET

The House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into President Trump's inner circle Monday, targeting figures who have worked in his administration and for the Trump Organization businesses.

The committee told reporters Monday that the investigation will focus on three primary issues: whether the president obstructed justice by interfering with criminal investigations; potential corruption such as violation of campaign and financial reporting laws, as well as possible misuse of office for personal gain; and abuses of power to include misuse of the pardon power and attacks on the press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

The subjects of Monday's document requests include both longtime Trump allies and those in the broader universe of individuals and entities linked to Trump, his administration and his business dealings.

The panel has demanded documents from 81 individuals, entities and federal agencies, and given them a deadline of March 18 — just two weeks.

A committee counsel said that if document production negotiations with any particular subject were not fruitful, subpoenas could be issued within weeks of that deadline. The subpoenas could be issued if the House Judiciary Committee takes a vote to authorize them.

Asked whether he would cooperate with the committee's request, Trump said, "I cooperate all the time with everybody." He also reiterated his position that there was "no collusion. It's all a hoax."

The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, accused the committee's chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., of already having made up his mind before launching this investigation. Nadler had said over the weekend that he believed, based on existing evidence, that the president obstructed justice.

"We don't even know what the Mueller report says, but Democrats are already hedging their bets. After recklessly prejudging the president for obstruction," Collins said. "Chairman Nadler is pursuing evidence to back up his conclusion because, as he admits, 'we don't have the facts yet.' "

The document demands follow last week's dramatic testimony in the House Oversight Committee, in which former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen repeatedly named figures in Trump business circles and accused them of being involved in various scandals.

Many of those figures linked to the Trump Organization were named on Monday's list of document requests, including Trump Organization Executive Vice President Donald Trump Jr., Chief Operating Officer Matthew Calamari, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, General Counsel Alan Garten and longtime Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff.

But the panel also demanded documents from other figures unrelated to the Trump Organization — an indication on the broad scope of the Judiciary Committee's investigation.

The panel is seeking documents from entities as diverse as Cambridge Analytica, WikiLeaks, the Trump Foundation, the Justice Department, the White House and the National Rifle Association. The full list is below.

"Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms," Nadler said. "Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee. ... We have sent these document requests in order to begin building the public record."

House Democrats have made investigations of the president a priority since they won control of the chamber in November. In particular, Democrats are focused on investigations of the president's finances, the potential for the president to have obstructed justice, and whether his campaign had any involvement in Russian campaign interference.

The move marks a milestone for the Judiciary Committee, which would be the panel responsible for starting impeachment proceedings against the president.

"Impeachment is a long way down the road... but we're going to initiate proper investigations," Nadler said Sunday on ABC News, adding that the investigations will be "to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power."

The White House acknowledged Monday morning that it had received a document request from the House Judiciary Committee.

The Justice Department also acknowledged the receipt of the committee's document request.

"The House Judiciary Committee's letter has been received by the White House. The Counsel's Office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time," White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said.

The full list of entities, individuals and agencies that are the target of the Judiciary Committee's requests:

1. Alan Garten 2. Alexander Nix 3. Allen Weisselberg 4. American Media Inc. 5. Anatoli Samochornov 6. Andrew Intrater 7. Annie Donaldson 8. Brad Parscale 9. Brittany Kaiser 10. Cambridge Analytica 11. Carter Page12. Columbus Nova 13. Concord Management and Consulting 14. Corey Lewandowski15. David Pecker 16. Department of Justice 17. Don McGahn 18. Donald J Trump Revocable Trust 19. Donald Trump Jr. 20. Dylan Howard 21. Eric Trump 22. Erik Prince 23. Federal Bureau of Investigation 24. Felix Sater 25. Flynn Intel Group 26. General Services Administration 27. George Nader 28. George Papadopoulos 29. Hope Hicks 30. Irakly Kaveladze 31. Jared Kushner 32. Jason Maloni 33. Jay Sekulow 34. Jeff Sessions 35. Jerome Corsi 36. John Szobocsan 37. Julian Assange 38. Julian David Wheatland 39. Keith Davidson 40. KT McFarland 41. Mark Corallo 42. Matt Tait 43. Matthew Calamari 44. Michael Caputo 45. Michael Cohen 46. Michael Flynn 47. Michael Flynn Jr.48. Paul Erickson 49. Paul Manafort 50. Peter Smith (Estate) 51. Randy Credico 52. Reince Priebus 53. Rhona Graff 54. Rinat Akhmetshin 55. Rob Goldstone 56. Roger Stone 57. Ronald Lieberman 58. Sam Nunberg 59. SCL Group Limited 60. Sean Spicer 61. Sheri Dillon 62. Stefan Passantino 63. Steve Bannon 64. Ted Malloch 65. The White House 66. Trump Campaign 67. Trump Foundation 68. Trump Organization 69. Trump Transition 70. Viktor Vekselberg 71. WikiLeaks 72. 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee73. Christopher Bancroft Burnham74. Frontier Services Group75. J.D. Gordon76. Kushner Companies77. NRA78. Rick Gates79. Tom Barrack80. Tom Bossert81. Tony Fabrizio

NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas and White House correspondent Tamara Keith contributed to this report. [Copyright 2019 NPR]