Any hope that Donald Trump may have had that Democratic lawmakers were willing to move on and ignore the possible illegalities committed during his four years in the White House has been put to rest as a top Democrat stated they have no interest in dropping a multitude of lawsuits that have been filed against the president.
With the president already looking at possible criminal indictments being filed against him and his family by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., his life after leaving the Oval Office promises to be filled with depositions and increasing legal peril.
That includes lawsuits filed by House Democrats that won't disappear after January 20th.
According to a report from CNN, the president is still on the hook for Congressional lawsuits looking into obtaining his "tax returns, key financial documents, testimony from a former White House counsel and grand jury material from the Mueller report."
While President-elect Joe Biden has said he will be hands-off when it comes to government investigations into the president and his family -- leaving those decisions to his yet-to-be-announced attorney general choice -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told CNN there is still work to do.
"I would want to investigate things that are profoundly damaging to our system of government and are capable of repetition by a future executive or administration," the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee member explained. "Trump paying off mistresses or engaging in real estate fraud in New York -- that doesn't really implicate a federal interest. But then we have the whole series of actions by Trump and his administration that shake the foundations of our government to the core."
According to the report, Democratic leadership will likely pick and choose which lawsuits they want to prioritize with an eye on also helping Biden press his agenda with the help of some Republicans.
The report goes on to note that Democrats are well aware that the president is considering a 2024 run, which makes it all that much more important that they get to work right away and not let time pass.
"A lot of this goes to the imperative of repairing the damage done to the legislative branch and its powers in the last four years," explained Rep. Gerry Connolly (R-VA). "We know how he behaves -- we have a record -- and one can only imagine in one's worst nightmares what it would be like if he were to regain the White House in four years. And that means to me, it's absolutely imperative we address these issues now."
That is not to say that all Democrats are on-board in going after Trump when there is so much to do when it comes to repairing the damage he has done to the country for four years.
According to Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), "My gravest concern is about the unity of our country and I recognize the challenge between the principle of law and accountability with increasing division. As we've seen with this administration trying to do a retrospective on the past can be more deconstructive than constructive. With that said, people have to be held accountable, but I will say this right now: The stimulus is a perfect example of what is more important."
Hovering over all of this is who Biden nominates to head the Justice Department, with CNN reporting Democrats will wait and see if "the Justice Department takes up any Trump-related investigations. Congress tends to defer to the Justice Department when an investigation is underway, and lawmakers say they wouldn't likely duplicate any of those efforts."
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