House Republicans Seek Probe of Chinese Communist Party Investment in US Visa Program

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is asking the Government Accountability Office to review whether members of the Chinese Communist Party have exploited a program that allows foreigners to obtain green cards by investing in businesses in the United States.

Reps. Jim Jordan and Guy Reschenthaler sent a letter Monday to Gene Dodaro, the comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, inquiring whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its members have used the EB-5 program to gain a foothold in the United States.

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Jonathan Turley Impeachment Inquiry Opening Statement: ‘What We Leave in the Wake of This Scandal Will Shape our Democracy for Generations’

The following is the complete transcript of Professor Jonathon Turley’s opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday.

It’s an honor to appear before you today to discuss one of the most consequential functions you were given by the framers and that is the impeachment of a President of the United States. Twenty-one years ago I sat before you chairman Nadler and this committee to testify at the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton.

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Mueller Reportedly Reluctant to Testify Publicly About Russia Probe

by Chuck Ross   Special counsel Robert Mueller’s negotiations with House Democrats over his public testimony have reportedly hit a roadblock. CNN reports that Mueller is reluctant to testify publicly about the Russia investigation for fear of being seen as too political. The Washington Post is reporting that Mueller and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have been unable to agree how much of the testimony would be done in public. According to The Post, Mueller wants to testify privately about topics that aren’t laid out in the lightly redacted special counsel’s report. Democrats hope to get Mueller to say whether President Donald Trump would face charges of obstruction of justice if he were not president. They also want Mueller to discuss his interactions with Attorney General William Barr regarding the investigation, as well as the release of the report. The report was less definitive on the issue of whether Trump attempted to obstruct the Russia probe. The report laid out 10 separate incidents that were investigated for possible obstruction, including Trump’s firing on May 9, 2017 of James Comey as FBI director. Mueller declined to make a decision on whether to recommend obstruction charges. That left the decision up…

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Reports: Mueller Won’t Testify Next Week, Says House Judiciary Chair

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller will not testify before Congress next week, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee told reporters Friday, according to media reports. Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he hopes he does not have to subpoena Mueller to appear before lawmakers but that he would issue one if necessary, adding that negotiations are continuing, Bloomberg, Fox News and other outlets reported. Nadler also said his panel had again issued a subpoena to former White House counsel Don McGahn and that lawmakers expect him to appear May 21 or face being cited for contempt, a Fox News journalist said. The White House earlier this week had directed McGahn not to comply with an earlier summons. Representatives for the committee could not be immediately reached to confirm the comments. Mueller’s potential testimony comes as House Democrats seek to further their investigations following the release of Mueller’s report on his two-year-plus investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and potential obstruction by U.S. President Donald Trump and his campaign. Mueller’s team of prosecutors detailed extensive contacts between Trump’s campaign and Moscow but concluded there was insufficient evidence to show a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the campaign.…

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Jim Jordan Says Democrats Are ‘Nervous’ That Barr Will ‘Get to the Bottom of Everything’

  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) slammed his Democratic colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday for voting to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress. “Bill Barr is following the law, and what’s his reward? Democrats are going to hold him in contempt,” Jordan began his remarks. “I don’t think today’s actually about getting information. I don’t think it’s about getting the unredacted Mueller report. I don’t think last week’s hearing was actually about having staff question the attorney general. I think it’s, as my colleague said earlier—I think it’s all about trying to destroy Bill Barr because Democrats are nervous he’s going to get to the bottom of everything.” As The Minnesota Sun reported, the House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to hold Barr in contempt of Congress for failing to hand over Mueller’s full, unredacted report. Twenty-four Democrats on the committee voted in favor of the motion. Jordan suggested before the vote that Democrats are nervous Barr will discover “how and why this investigation started in the first place.” Jordan noted that during his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee Barr said there was “a failure of leadership at the upper echelons of the…

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House Judiciary Committee Passes Vote to Hold Attorney General William Barr In Contempt of Congress

by Henry Rodgers   The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress for not giving the committee special counsel Robert Mueller’s full, unredacted report. The committee, led by New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, originally gave Barr a deadline of 9 a.m. Monday to turn in the full report with no redactions, which many Republicans believe would be dangerous due to the possibly sensitive material that could be leaked. Nadler scheduled the congressional contempt vote for Wednesday at 10 a.m. All Democrats present voted to advance the vote to hold Barr in contempt of Congress in the procedural vote Wednesday morning. The committee later voted along party lines, with 24 Democrats voting yes for Barr to be held in contempt of Congress. No Republicans joined. Before the vote, The White House said the president would use executive privilege to prevent Democratic lawmakers from getting the materials they’re requesting. “Even in redacted form, the Special Counsel’s report offers disturbing evidence and analysis that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice at the highest levels. Congress must see the full report and underlying evidence to determine how to best move forward with oversight, legislation,…

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Cohen Says Barr ‘Deserves No Respect’ While Using Chicken Statue, KFC Chicken Bucket to Mock Attorney General For Not Attending House Judiciary Committee Hearing

  U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) his upped the ante with his rhetoric by mocking Attorney General William Barr, whom he called a “chicken” — and the Democrat held up a chicken statue and ate fried chicken for effect. Breitbart reported on the tirade at a press conference by the Memphis congressman. The remarks came after Barr said he would not attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report showing there was no collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. #ChickenBarr won’t be appearing before @HouseJudiciary tomorrow. The Attorney General shouldn’t be afraid of taking questions from counsel or members. Contemptible behavior. Fortunately, we have subpoenas ready. pic.twitter.com/a4QecbqcHN — Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) May 1, 2019 The Commercial Appeal reported that Cohen brought the chicken statue and a KFC bucket to the hearing. Barr reportedly refused to attend the hearing because House Democrats demanded that staff attorneys, in addition to lawmakers, be allowed to question Barr over his summary of the Mueller report — a condition that Barr refused to comply with. Before the morning hearing started, however, Cohen ate the chicken in his KFC bucket, Fortune reported. Regarding his analogy, Cohen said in a press release, “The…

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House Judiciary Committee Chair Nadler Falsely Claims Don Jr. Was Offered Stolen Information in Trump Tower Meeting

by Chuck Ross   New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, falsely claimed in an interview on Sunday that Donald Trump Jr. was offered stolen information in the infamous meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016. “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd failed to correct Nadler when he made the inaccurate statement. “I do not understand why he didn’t charge Don Jr., and others in that famous meetings with criminal conspiracy,” Nadler said of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the interview. “They entered into a meeting of the minds to attend a meeting, to get stolen material on Hillary. They went to the meeting. That’s conspiracy, right there,” he added. Despite that claim, Trump Jr. was not offered stolen material before accepting the June 9, 2016 meeting. WATCH: Should Mueller have charged anyone for meeting with Russians in Trump Tower? #MeetThePress #IfItsSunday@repjerrynadler: "I do not understand why he didn't charge Don Jr. and others in that famous meeting." pic.twitter.com/2h0c3Mfimp — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 21, 2019 Trump Jr. accepted the meeting after a music publicist named Rob Goldstone emailed him on June 3, 2016 saying that a Russian attorney wanted to meet with the campaign to…

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Democratic Probes of Trump Could Trigger Protracted Subpoena Battle

With House Democrats ramping up their wide-ranging investigations of President Donald Trump, Congress and the administration are bracing for what is shaping up to be a long, hard fight over access to documents and witnesses that could go on for the remainder of Trump’s first term in office. On Wednesday the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to authorize subpoenas to obtain the full report on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election from special counsel Robert Mueller, as well as the testimonies of five former White House officials interviewed by the special counsel While Trump has left it to Attorney General William Barr to decide whether to release the complete report, the president is expected to assert what is known as executive privilege over some portions of records other congressional committees are seeking as part of their investigation of the administration. That has set the stage for a showdown between Democrats in Congress and the White House, raising the specter that the issue may ultimately end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. But if the past is any indication, the coming battle is likely to be fought — and eventually settled — through political give and…

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Full Court Press: House Democrats Expand Russia Probe Seeking Documents to Prove ‘Obstruction’

Declaring it’s “very clear” President Donald Trump obstructed justice, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says the panel is requesting documents Monday from more than 60 people from Trump’s administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the House Judiciary Committee wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn also are likely targets, he said. “We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice,” Nadler said. “We will do everything we can to get that evidence.” Asked if he believed Trump obstructed justice, Nadler said, “Yes, I do.” Nadler isn’t calling the inquiry an impeachment investigation but said House Democrats, now in the majority, are simply doing “our job to protect the rule of law” after Republicans during the first two years of Trump’s term were “shielding the president from any proper accountability.” “We’re far from making decisions” about impeachment, he said. In a tweet on Sunday, Trump blasted anew the Russia investigation,…

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State Representative Andy Holt’s Bill for Two Types of Handgun Carry Permits Moves Forward in the House

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A bill to create two types of handgun carry permits, sponsored by State Representative Andy Holt (R-Dresden) as HB 1264, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee this week. The bill, if it should become law, reclassifies current handgun carry permits as an “Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit” (EHCP), and creates a new “Concealed Handgun Carry Permit” (CHCP). The EHCP does not specify that the manner in which a handgun is carried, therefore allowing both concealed and open carry. EHCP holders will generally be exempt from current restrictions regarding carrying in public areas such as parks and education-related properties. The application fee for an ECHP is $100. The CHCP would allow handguns to be carried only in a concealed manner. There shall be no application fee for the CHCP and it shall be valid for eight years from the date of issuance. A CHCP applicant must provide proof of competence with a handgun through one of nine different avenues, with no expiration date on the proof of demonstrated competence, including: completion of hunter education or hunter safety course by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency or similar agency of another state; completion of any firearms safety or training course…

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Bill Setting Limits on Nashville Police Oversight Board Advances in Tennessee House

The Tennessee House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill setting limits on Nashville’s police oversight board. The bill is HB0568, sponsored by State Rep. Michael G. Curcio (R-TN-69). The bill’s tracking information is here. HB0568 will go next to the House Calendar & Rules Committee, a necessary step prior to consideration by the full House. The Senate version, SB1407, is scheduled for the Senate Judiciary Committee for March 5. The bill’s caption says the measure would limit “the authority of a community oversight board to the review and consideration of matters reported to it and the issuance of advisory reports and recommendations to agencies involved in public safety and the administration of justice.” During the House Judiciary Committee meeting, the bill appeared at the end of the agenda, the Nashville Scene reported. Several Democrats objected to the closing of debate, citing parliamentary procedure, but the committee ultimately voted 13-6 to send the bill on. … Curcio’s bill would strip Nashville’s board of its subpoena power. It would also eliminate the demographic descriptors written into Nashville’s COB membership requirements. Basically, the bill would require board members to be registered voters and that membership cannot be limited to certain demographics, economic…

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Republican Who Survived Shooting Says Democrats Wouldn’t Let Him Testify at Gun Control Hearing

by Joshua Nelson   House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blocked him from appearing at a hearing Wednesday on gun control to testify as the victim of the shooting during a congressional baseball practice two years ago. Historically, Scalise said, members of Congress normally are given the opportunity to testify before a committee and he was shocked that his request was denied. Since Democrats set the hearing on how to reduce gun violence, he said, he saw an opportunity to share his near-death experience of being targeted by a shooter and saved by police officers’ guns in what could have turned out to be a massacre on June 14, 2017. “I saw how guns were used to save people’s lives, and it should’ve been able to be part of the testimony,” Scalise, a Second Amendment defender, told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “They wanted to focus on taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens, which their bill ultimately does.” Scalise said he found out the previous weekend about the Democrats’ decision to exclude him from the hearing. The hearing, called “Preventing Gun Violence: A Call to Action,” focused on…

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Judiciary Committee Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse Floats Perjury Probe of Justice Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, a freshman member of the House Judiciary Committee, told constituents the panel will likely investigate Justice Brett Kavanaugh for perjury. “There’s no question [Kavanaugh] committed perjury during the confirmation hearings and so forth,” Neguse said when asked if the justice might be impeached. “I think the Judiciary Committee is likely to take that up.” A conservative opposition research group obtained and disseminated video of Neguse’s comments. The congressman was not specific as to which of Kavanaugh’s statements might rise to the level of perjury. Democrats have put forward various theories as to how Kavanaugh misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings: One theory, which NBC News advanced, held that he lied concerning when he first learned about the allegations of Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate who accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly exposing himself to her at a party. In response to questions from lawmakers during his second confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh said he first learned of Ramirez’s claims from The New Yorker, the venue in which her story appeared. NBC subsequently recovered text messages revealing the justice and his allies were discussing Ramirez’s allegations before the story’s publication, prompting charges…

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Google Employees Sought to Block Breitbart From Ads, Emails Show

by Peter Hasson   Google employees sought to block Breitbart from Google AdSense less than one month after President Donald Trump took office, leaked emails from the company reveal. Google employees sought to use alleged “hate speech” as a pretense for banning Breitbart from taking part in the advertising program, the emails show. Barring Breitbart from the advertising program would have a devastating effect on the site’s ad revenue, as Google accounts for roughly 37 percent of all digital advertising revenue. Breitbart obtained the emails and published them on Monday night, one day before Google CEO Sundar Pichai is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. A Google spokeswoman confirmed the emails’s authenticity to The Daily Caller News Foundation. “My team has been reviewing the site on a frequent (at least weekly) from the original fake news kick-off discussion,” Google’s director of monetization at the time, Jim Gray, assured employees concerned about Breitbart. Gray now is now Google’s director of trust and safety. Richard Zippel, a Google publisher quality manager at the time, similarly noted that Breitbart was being watched closely. “When sufficient violations have been found we’ll take action at the site level,” Zippel wrote. It’s unclear whether…

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Steve Cohen asks Google CEO to Probe ‘Overuse of Conservative News Organizations in Search Results’

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) apparently does not like it when Google shows conservative websites’ coverage of his television appearances. He remarked upon that trend during a House Judiciary Committee grilling of Google CEO Sundar Pichai Tuesday. Cohen accused Google of “overly using conservative news organizations on your news,” PJ Media reported. “This weekend I was on MSNBC four times, and yet the first thing that comes up is The Daily Caller, not exactly a liberal, but I guess well-known group, then Roll Call, then Breitbart News, then the Memphis Business Journal, then Breitbart News, then Breitbart,” Cohen said. “…I’d like you to look into overuse of conservative news organizations to put on liberal people’s news on Google.” Pichai said, “I can assure you we do this in a neutral way. And we do this based on that specific keyword, what we are able to access the most relevant information.” “I’m sure you try to, but it’s hard for me to fathom being on MSNBC for like eight minutes each show, four times, and there’s more content on Breitbart News than MSNBC,” Cohen replied. “That might say something about – well I’m not going to say that. Scary.” Perhaps even…

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House Chairman Plans To Subpoena Rod Rosenstein ‘Very Soon’

by Chuck Ross   The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Saturday that he will subpoena Rod Rosenstein “very soon” if the deputy attorney general does not agree to an on-the-record interview with Congress. “[Rosenstein] has not agreed to come for a transcribed interview on the record. He needs to agree to do that. If he does not agree to do that very soon, I will issue a subpoena for him to appear,” GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia said in an interview on “Fox & Friends.” Goodlatte and other Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform Committees want to interview Rosenstein about reports that in May 2017 he suggested wearing a wire during meetings with President Donald Trump. Republicans on the committees also want to ask Rosenstein about the FBI’s handling of the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Republican lawmakers believe that the FBI misled judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by relying heavily on the unverified Steele dossier to obtain warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Rosenstein signed off on the fourth and final surveillance warrant in June 2017. .@RepGoodlatte: “[Rod Rosenstein] has not…

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Seven Takeaways From FBI Agent Strzok’s Testimony Before Two House Committees

Peter Strzok

by Fred Lucas   A joint hearing of two House committees Thursday repeatedly turned testy as FBI agent Peter Strzok sought to explain away text messages sharply critical of Donald Trump and how they did not affect the fairness of the FBI investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Strzok, reassigned but still an FBI employee, admitted “it’s fair to say I’m not a fan” of Trump. But he insisted that the Russia investigation is legitimate, contrary to Trump’s characterization of it. “In the summer of 2016, we had an urgent need to protect the integrity of an American presidential election from a hostile foreign power determined to weaken and divide the United States of America,” Strzok told lawmakers. “This investigation is not politically motivated. It is not a witch hunt. It is not a hoax.” The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Judiciary Committee held the joint hearing. The following are the big takeaways. [The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] 1. Denying Bias, Admitting Regret Throughout the hearing, Strzok continuously denied being biased. “Having worked in national…

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Emails Confirm: Obama DOJ Funneled Big Bank Settlement Money To Liberal Groups

Emails written by Obama administration Department of Justice officials confirm reports the agency engaged in a systemic effort to funnel money to liberal advocacy organizations from settlements reached with big banks. The documents, obtained by the House Judiciary Committee as part of an ongoing investigation, reveal the Obama Justice Department effectively skirted Congress’s budgetary authority by…

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