On Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan pressed committee Chairman Elijah Cummings for answers regarding secret meetings he held with other House committee leaders that reportedly addressed Trump-focused probes.
It’s not the first time either — per Fox News , last week Jordan criticized a secret Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Cummings and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, suggesting that Cummings violated House rules. Now, Jordan is pressing further.
“Your nonpublic MOU with Chairwoman Waters cites no specific authority allowing you to execute an MOU that could affect future investigatory actions you take as chairman on behalf of the Committee. I ask again whether you could explain the authority that allows you to execute an MOU that affects potential Committee action without first obtaining approval of Committee Members.”
Jordan accused Democrats of coordinating Trump investigations in secret and keeping Republicans in the dark. According to the Washington Examiner , House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff also participated in the Cummings-Waters meeting.
“If you intend to continue to use the Committee’s limited resources to attack President Trump for political gain, I hope that you will at least be transparent about your actions,” Jordan wrote, suggesting that the secret meetings pose a risk to “fair and unbiased” investigation.
Rep. @Jim_Jordan and @RepMarkMeadows want to get to the bottom of the genesis of the investigation into president @realDonaldTrump .
“What most Americans want is to make sure that this does not happen again.” https://t.co/uY4ChjekYm
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 19, 2019
Previously, Schiff and Waters said they would team up to investigate Deutsche Bank, which has a long history of business dealings with Trump. Schiff claims that the president’s records with Deutsche Bank and Russia could hold information that sheds light on a compromise underlying the German banking giant’s ties with the Trump Organization.
The questions raised by Jordan, the founding member of the Freedom Caucus, come amidst many Trump-focused investigations. One is Cummings’ committee’s examination into the controversial security clearance process used by the Trump administration, as well as subpoenaing of materials connected to the president’s finances.
As The Inquisitr reported, the president filed a lawsuit to block a subpoena that Cummings and his panel sent to Trump’s primary accounting firm, Mazars USA, to gain 10 years worth of the president’s financial records. But Cummings claims that it’s a “friendly subpoena” and said that the accounting firm requested a subpoena before releasing the president’s financial records.
According to Cummings, the subpoena stems from Michael Cohen’s testimony in which he told lawmakers that Trump’s financial records contain inaccuracies. But Cummings added that there were also “corroborating documents” that raise questions about the accuracy of the president’s finances.
Trump’s lawsuit called the Cohen hearing a “partisan stunt” from an unreliable witness, suggesting that it’s not a sufficient reason to subpoena his finances.
