SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) arrives late for a news conference following the weekly House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center July 17, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
As Midterms Loom, GOP Reportedly Circulating 'Hell List' of Trump Probes Democrats Could Launch If They Retake House
Republicans have "documented all the work they should be doing but aren't, and sent the list around to make sure everyone gets busy figuring out ways to prevent other people from doing it," noted one observer
Aug 27, 2018
Horrified by the very real possibility that Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives in November, Republican lawmakers are reportedly circulating a private spreadsheet that has been dubbed the "hell list," which consists of investigations the GOP fears Democrats will launch if they are successful in the upcoming midterms.
Republicans "know these things deserve to be investigated and they don't do it."
--Matt Fuller, Huffington Post
According to Axios, which obtained a copy of the spreadsheet, the document "catalogs more than 100 formal requests from House Democrats this Congress, spanning nearly every committee."
"The spreadsheet includes requests for administration officials to be grilled by committee staff, requests for hearings to obtain sworn testimony, efforts to seize communications about controversial policies and personnel decisions, and subpoena threats," Axios reported on Sunday. "These demands would turn the Trump White House into a 24/7 legal defense operation."
While the GOP's control of the House has allowed them to shut down the minority party's investigative requests--which have touched a wide range of topics, from President Donald Trump's tax returns to the federal government's wholly inadequate response to Hurricane Maria--the prospect of Democrats winning back the House has "churned Republican stomachs," as it would give Democrats the subpoena power they currently lack.
Here are just some of the items on the GOP's spreadsheet, as reported by Axios:
- President Trump's tax returns
- Trump family businesses -- and whether they comply with the Constitution's emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
- Trump's dealings with Russia, including the president's preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
- The payment to Stephanie Clifford -- a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
- James Comey's firing
- Trump's firing of U.S. attorneys
- Trump's proposed transgender ban for the military
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's business dealings
- White House staff's personal email use
- Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
- Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
- Jared Kushner's ethics law compliance
- Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
- The travel ban
- Family separation policy
- Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
- Election security and hacking attempts
- White House security clearances
"Lawyers close to the White House tell me the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency," Axios's Jonathan Swan noted on Sunday.
Reacting to reports of the GOP's secret spreadsheet on Sunday, Simon Maloy of Media Matters noted that Republicans have essentially "documented all the work they should be doing but aren't, and sent the list around to make sure everyone gets busy figuring out ways to prevent other people from doing it."
Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller added sarcastically that the list "really highlights how seriously Republicans have taken their executive oversight responsibilities."
According to a report by the Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee "have asked the Republican majority to issue subpoenas related to the administration's conduct 52 times during the first 20 months of Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans turned down each of those 52 requests. If Democrats held the committee gavel, the subpoenas would be approved."
In a statement on Friday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)--the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee--vowed to move forward with these investigations into the Trump administration's corruption if his party takes back the House.
"If Democrats win the majority in November," Cummings declared, "we would finally do what Republicans have refused to do, and that is conduct independent, fact-based, and credible investigations of the Trump Administration to address issues like the security clearance process, conflicts of interest, the numerous attempts by Republicans to strip away healthcare from millions of Americans, postal service reforms, prescription drug pricing, and voting rights."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
hurricane mariademocratic partyrussiaus housejared kushnertrumpismpuerto ricoalexandria ocasio-cortezrepublican party
Horrified by the very real possibility that Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives in November, Republican lawmakers are reportedly circulating a private spreadsheet that has been dubbed the "hell list," which consists of investigations the GOP fears Democrats will launch if they are successful in the upcoming midterms.
Republicans "know these things deserve to be investigated and they don't do it."
--Matt Fuller, Huffington Post
According to Axios, which obtained a copy of the spreadsheet, the document "catalogs more than 100 formal requests from House Democrats this Congress, spanning nearly every committee."
"The spreadsheet includes requests for administration officials to be grilled by committee staff, requests for hearings to obtain sworn testimony, efforts to seize communications about controversial policies and personnel decisions, and subpoena threats," Axios reported on Sunday. "These demands would turn the Trump White House into a 24/7 legal defense operation."
While the GOP's control of the House has allowed them to shut down the minority party's investigative requests--which have touched a wide range of topics, from President Donald Trump's tax returns to the federal government's wholly inadequate response to Hurricane Maria--the prospect of Democrats winning back the House has "churned Republican stomachs," as it would give Democrats the subpoena power they currently lack.
Here are just some of the items on the GOP's spreadsheet, as reported by Axios:
- President Trump's tax returns
- Trump family businesses -- and whether they comply with the Constitution's emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
- Trump's dealings with Russia, including the president's preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
- The payment to Stephanie Clifford -- a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
- James Comey's firing
- Trump's firing of U.S. attorneys
- Trump's proposed transgender ban for the military
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's business dealings
- White House staff's personal email use
- Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
- Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
- Jared Kushner's ethics law compliance
- Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
- The travel ban
- Family separation policy
- Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
- Election security and hacking attempts
- White House security clearances
"Lawyers close to the White House tell me the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency," Axios's Jonathan Swan noted on Sunday.
Reacting to reports of the GOP's secret spreadsheet on Sunday, Simon Maloy of Media Matters noted that Republicans have essentially "documented all the work they should be doing but aren't, and sent the list around to make sure everyone gets busy figuring out ways to prevent other people from doing it."
Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller added sarcastically that the list "really highlights how seriously Republicans have taken their executive oversight responsibilities."
According to a report by the Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee "have asked the Republican majority to issue subpoenas related to the administration's conduct 52 times during the first 20 months of Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans turned down each of those 52 requests. If Democrats held the committee gavel, the subpoenas would be approved."
In a statement on Friday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)--the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee--vowed to move forward with these investigations into the Trump administration's corruption if his party takes back the House.
"If Democrats win the majority in November," Cummings declared, "we would finally do what Republicans have refused to do, and that is conduct independent, fact-based, and credible investigations of the Trump Administration to address issues like the security clearance process, conflicts of interest, the numerous attempts by Republicans to strip away healthcare from millions of Americans, postal service reforms, prescription drug pricing, and voting rights."
Horrified by the very real possibility that Democrats will retake control of the House of Representatives in November, Republican lawmakers are reportedly circulating a private spreadsheet that has been dubbed the "hell list," which consists of investigations the GOP fears Democrats will launch if they are successful in the upcoming midterms.
Republicans "know these things deserve to be investigated and they don't do it."
--Matt Fuller, Huffington Post
According to Axios, which obtained a copy of the spreadsheet, the document "catalogs more than 100 formal requests from House Democrats this Congress, spanning nearly every committee."
"The spreadsheet includes requests for administration officials to be grilled by committee staff, requests for hearings to obtain sworn testimony, efforts to seize communications about controversial policies and personnel decisions, and subpoena threats," Axios reported on Sunday. "These demands would turn the Trump White House into a 24/7 legal defense operation."
While the GOP's control of the House has allowed them to shut down the minority party's investigative requests--which have touched a wide range of topics, from President Donald Trump's tax returns to the federal government's wholly inadequate response to Hurricane Maria--the prospect of Democrats winning back the House has "churned Republican stomachs," as it would give Democrats the subpoena power they currently lack.
Here are just some of the items on the GOP's spreadsheet, as reported by Axios:
- President Trump's tax returns
- Trump family businesses -- and whether they comply with the Constitution's emoluments clause, including the Chinese trademark grant to the Trump Organization
- Trump's dealings with Russia, including the president's preparation for his meeting with Vladimir Putin
- The payment to Stephanie Clifford -- a.k.a. Stormy Daniels
- James Comey's firing
- Trump's firing of U.S. attorneys
- Trump's proposed transgender ban for the military
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's business dealings
- White House staff's personal email use
- Cabinet secretary travel, office expenses, and other misused perks
- Discussion of classified information at Mar-a-Lago
- Jared Kushner's ethics law compliance
- Dismissal of members of the EPA board of scientific counselors
- The travel ban
- Family separation policy
- Hurricane response in Puerto Rico
- Election security and hacking attempts
- White House security clearances
"Lawyers close to the White House tell me the Trump administration is nowhere near prepared for the investigatory onslaught that awaits them, and they consider it among the greatest threats to his presidency," Axios's Jonathan Swan noted on Sunday.
Reacting to reports of the GOP's secret spreadsheet on Sunday, Simon Maloy of Media Matters noted that Republicans have essentially "documented all the work they should be doing but aren't, and sent the list around to make sure everyone gets busy figuring out ways to prevent other people from doing it."
Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller added sarcastically that the list "really highlights how seriously Republicans have taken their executive oversight responsibilities."
According to a report by the Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal last week, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee "have asked the Republican majority to issue subpoenas related to the administration's conduct 52 times during the first 20 months of Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans turned down each of those 52 requests. If Democrats held the committee gavel, the subpoenas would be approved."
In a statement on Friday, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.)--the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee--vowed to move forward with these investigations into the Trump administration's corruption if his party takes back the House.
"If Democrats win the majority in November," Cummings declared, "we would finally do what Republicans have refused to do, and that is conduct independent, fact-based, and credible investigations of the Trump Administration to address issues like the security clearance process, conflicts of interest, the numerous attempts by Republicans to strip away healthcare from millions of Americans, postal service reforms, prescription drug pricing, and voting rights."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.