Trump subpoena defiance puts Democrats in a bind

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s decision to fight “all the subpoenas” is pushing Democrats towards a complicated and risky choice: take on the White House in a lengthy court battle or begin
an impeachment.
The impeachment process would strengthen Democrats’ legal case for enforcing subpoenas, but it would open them to political attacks from Republicans saying they are rushing
toward a predetermined outcome that would be rejected by the Senate.
The White House has been goading Democrats into opening an impeachment proceeding by fighting many of the current subpoenas on the grounds they’re not related to a clear legislative purpose. Democratic leaders have been wary of such a move, concerned it could backfire and help Trump win re-election next year.
The fight represents a
constitutional power struggle between two branches of government. It will also come down to perception: whether an impeachment process is seen as opening a legitimate investigation or as a political step to remove someone from office.
Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia, a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview that House Democrats shouldn’t
be required to support their subpoenas by initiating “full-blown impeachment proceedings merely as a tactical move to enforce the investigative efforts of the six major investigative committees.”
“Most Democrats still do not want to go down that road of impeachment — the political peril in that is still unknown,” said Connolly. “But having said that, if for tactical reasons that is what we have to do to enforce subpoenas that he is defying across the board, what alternative to we have?”
A federal judge forcefully backed the Democrats, saying that Trump’s longtime accounting firm should comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee and hand over his financial records.
“It is simply not fathomable that a Constitution that grants Congress the power to remove a president for reasons including criminal behavior would deny Congress the power to investigate him for unlawful conduct — past or present — even without formally opening an impeachment inquiry,” US District Judge Amit Mehta wrote in an opinion.
Yet Trump has been fighting several Democratic subpoenas of current and former US officials, as well as a broader series of requests for documents and testimony. White House Counsel Pat Cipollone moved to shield former Counsel Don McGahn from testifying before Congress, asserting broad immunity
to compelled testimony. Previously, Trump claimed executive privilege to block McGahn from handing documents over to
the panel.
Both Trump and Attorney General William Barr have said the administration’s legal strategy is aimed at protecting the power of the presidency.
“If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we’re going to be a much weaker and more divided nation,” Barr told the Wall Street Journal. Trump’s move to block McGahn from testifying under subpoena before the House Judiciary Committee infuriated Democrats, prompting at least one previously reluctant lawmaker to call for impeachment.
“It may be an impeachment inquiry will strengthen our hand significantly in our effort to bring witnesses before our committee and collect documents,” Representative David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat said in an interview.