Democratic impeachment investigators looking at whether Trump misled Mueller

Democrats are looking into President Trump’s potential obstruction of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, including whether the president misled Mueller, as part of the impeachment inquiry, a House Judiciary Committee counsel told a panel of federal circuit court judges on Monday.

House Democrats, who have repeatedly pushed for the urgent release of redacted grand jury materials stemming from Mueller’s probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, made the case for the documents’ continued relevance, even as the impeachment inquiry zeroes in on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. 

In arguments before a panel of appellate judges of the D.C. Circuit Court, House attorney Douglas Letter cited the grand jury testimony of Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort in particular. Manafort’s statements could shed light on whether written responses Trump provided to the special counsel were untruthful, Letter said.

Trump told Mueller he didn’t recall discussing WikiLeaks with Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress last week. 

But during Stone’s trial, Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates testified that Trump and Stone had a phone conversation following WikiLeaks’ publication of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. Afterwards, Trump told Gates that more information was coming, Gates testified.

Letter on Monday doubled down on an argument House Democrats made in a September filing in D.C. District Court that redacted grand jury testimony from Manafort and Gates “have direct bearing on whether the president was untruthful” to the special counsel.

The former special counsel’s 448-page report contains redacted passages detailing information gleaned during grand jury proceedings. The House Judiciary Committee is seeking a judicial order to lift the redactions. 

The D.C. Circuit Court last month granted the Justice Department’s request to temporarily block the release of grand jury materials while the case plays out in court.

Updated at 1:44 p.m.