Amash: Trump incorrect in claiming Congress didn’t subpoena Obama officials

Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) refuted President Trump’s claim on Wednesday that Congress never subpoenaed Obama administration officials, citing examples from both 2012 and 2018.

“President Trump falsely asserted in his press conference that Republicans didn’t issue subpoenas against the Obama administration. I was one of the representatives who voted to hold Atty. Gen. Eric Holder in contempt for failing to turn over documents,” Amash tweeted Wednesday, linking to an article about the contempt vote against Holder.

President Trump falsely asserted in his press conference that Republicans didn’t issue subpoenas against the Obama administration. I was one of the representatives who voted to hold Atty. Gen. Eric Holder in contempt for failing to turn over documents. https://t.co/UZgD74FyMD

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 2, 2019

“In fairness to the president, it seems he was focusing on Paul Ryan, so here’s a separate example of how President Trump’s assertion was false,” Amash said in a follow-up tweet, linking to a 2018 article about former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) threatening to hold former FBI lawyer Lisa Page in contempt if she failed to comply with a subpoena, although that example was from during Trump’s presidency.

In fairness to the president, it seems he was focusing on Paul Ryan, so here’s a separate example of how President Trump’s assertion was false: https://t.co/BKjNkb3IT5

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) October 2, 2019

Kurt Bardella, a former spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee, also weighed in, saying the panel issued more than 100 subpoenas to the Obama administration.

wow … @realDonaldTrump just said Republicans didn’t issue subpoenas to @BarackObama … as the former Spokesperson/Advisor for @GOPoversight I can tell you this is 100% false … our committee alone issued more than 100 subpoenas to the Obama Admin https://t.co/uPYbVbW9KS

— Kurt Bardella (@kurtbardella) October 2, 2019

Trump’s claim about subpoenas came during extended remarks on Wednesday while he was railing against House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry during a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

{mosads}”Paul Ryan would not give subpoenas. Nancy Pelosi: Here you go, take it. You want a subpoena? Here’s a subpoena,” Trump said.

House Democrats earlier Wednesday threatened to subpoena the White House for documents relating to the president’s dealings with Ukraine.

Amash, a onetime Republican and founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, left both the party and the caucus earlier this year after he said former special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings had convinced him that Trump committed impeachable offenses.