DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The House Judiciary Committee on Friday [7-26-19] asked a federal judge to unseal grand jury secrets related to Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation, using the court filing to declare that lawmakers have already in effect launched an impeachment investigation of President Trump. In a legal maneuver that carries significant political overtones, the committee told a judge that it needs access to the grand jury evidence collected by Mr. Mueller as special counsel — such as witness testimony — because it is ‘investigating whether to recommend articles of impeachment’ against the president…With the filing, the committee’s chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, was attempting to sidestep the debate raging inside the Democratic Party over whether the full House should hold a vote to formally declare that it is opening an impeachment inquiry. By declaring that his committee was in effect conducting such an inquiry, he was heading off a politically difficult vote in the committee or the full house to pursue impeachment.”
–Nicholas Fandos and Charlie Savage, “Raising Prospect of Impeaching Trump, House Seeks Mueller’s Grand Jury Secrets,” The New York Times online, July 26, 2019