A US federal judge upheld the legitimacy of the democrat-led impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump. It ordered its government to present to the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives an undecorated copy of Special Rapporteur Robert Mueller's report on the Russia affair. Federal Judge Beryl Howell in Washington put a deadline for the Ministry until next Wednesday. Their order also stated that this also applies to the notes or evidence withheld by the Ministry of Justice, which were the basis of the report and referred to in the blackened parts. Appeal against the decision.
According to the "New York Times", in 1974, courts granted access to documents that would allow the committee to weigh whether to sue President Richard M. Nixon and thus remove him from office. Howell now decided that parliamentarians should have the same rights in Trump. She justified her decision by stating that the need for law enforcement officials to keep information secret from congress was "minimal."
The Judiciary Committee had previously urged Justice Secretary William Barr to present the undegraded Mueller report and the underlying evidence. Barr declined that.
The New York Times calls this a "big win" for the Democrats. Also, because Judge Howell in her judgment underpinned the legality of the preliminary investigations into an impeachment trial against Donald Trump. Normally, according to the New York Times, there is no right to see the secret evidence of a large jury.
The White House and leading Republicans had described the preliminary investigations as illegitimate because there was no formal vote. The judge wrote: "Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a Parliament resolution has never been required to initiate an impeachment investigation".
The key quote from Howell: "Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a house resolution has never, in fact, been
required to begin an impeachment inquiry. "
At the end of September, the US Democrats had taken the first concrete steps for a possible impeachment trial of Trump, after more and more details became known in the Ukraine affair. Now further details from the Russian affair are to be included in the preliminary investigations of the Democrats.
Robert Mueller had been investigating for about two years whether Republican Donald Trump's campaign team was making collusion with representatives of Russia. It was also about whether Trump later, when he was already US President, obstructed the investigation of the judiciary. Background of the investigation was the alleged interference of Moscow in the US presidential campaign 2016.
At the end of March, Mueller had completed his work and handed over to Barr his final report, which has so far been published only in parts blackened. Mueller found no evidence of collusion by the Trump team with representatives of Russia. However, the report lists Trump's attempts to influence the investigation. Mueller did not clearly comment on the allegation of judicial disability, but put forward arguments for and against it. He expressly did not release Trump from the accusation. Trump, on the other hand, was completely relieved.
