If Democrats win the House this fall, they have a long roster of people they’d like to subpoena, including Donald Trump Jr. and former communication director Hope Hicks, according to a Thursday Politico report.
They could ask hard questions about Russia contacts, freed from the gatekeeping of the Republicans.
However, Democrats also plan to be careful not to infringe on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, as well as not to oversaturate the American people in Russian minutiae at the risk of seeming less concerned with the more immediate bread-and-butter issues.
Per Politico, Russia is not the only topic Democrats plan to spend time on. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the next chair of the House Judiciary Committee should the chamber flip, wants to talk about President Donald Trump’s unrelenting criticism of the FBI, get briefings from the DOJ on the Michael Cohen case and take immediate action on a bill to protect Mueller.
A big reason why Democrats may take some of the process into their own hands is reportedly the concern that Mueller’s report will not stretch back to suspicious factors that could have led to Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016. According to Politico, some Democrats are advocating for an independent commission to investigate any foreign hacking during the 2016 election.
