Outgoing GOP rep says law enforcement, not Congress should conduct investigations

Outgoing Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) on Wednesday said he believes Congress should drop its investigations and focus on policy issues such as immigration and infrastructure.

“I would end every investigation right now from Congress’s point of view,” Reichert told KIRO in Seattle. “Let the law enforcement agencies conduct their investigations. We have to trust them to do that.”

Reichert, who declined to seek reelection this year, said he believes Congress should focus on immigration, infrastructure and trade policies. He suggested the country is “sick and tired” of partisan gridlock preventing lawmakers from developing solutions to problems.

{mosads}“Sit down like adults and figure out a path forward. For the good of the American people for crying out loud,” Reichert said.

The lawmaker’s call for an end to congressional investigations came on the same day that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a host of federal charges he pleaded guilty to earlier this year.

The sentence stems from bank and tax fraud charges, and campaign finance violations tied to a scheme to pay off women alleging affairs with Trump in order to prevent damaging information from surfacing during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump property in Moscow.

Multiple congressional committees have investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election. Republicans have largely suggested there’s no evidence to implicate the president, while Democrats have argued the congressional probes must continue alongside special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign.

In addition, Democrats have pledged to begin investigations when they take control of the House during the next session of Congress, promising to look into the president’s finances, his ties to Russia and Ivanka Trump’s use of private email.

The special counsel’s investigation has thus far implicated five former Trump associates and more than 20 Russian nationals. The president has insisted he did not collude with Russia and has regularly called the probe a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” perpetuated by Democrats.