President Donald Trump gave a possible preview of his strategy in his dealings with congressional investigations by echoing former President Barack Obama, in a Tuesday signing ceremony at the White House.
Trump was asked an initial question about a congressional investigation into whether he authorized Jared Kushner’s security clearance but expanded his answer to an expansive document request by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler.
“President Obama, from what they tell me, was under a similar kind of a thing, didn’t get one letter. They didn’t do anything. They didn’t get one letter of the request, many requests were made, they didn’t get a letter,” Trump said, lamenting that he had hoped to work with Democratic lawmakers.
“It’s too bad because I’d rather see them do legislation. We negotiated out legislation with so many things that we agreed on, like infrastructure, but they want to focus on nonsense,” Trump said.
The president’s remarks come after Nadler revealed Monday that he is opening an investigation “into the alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration.”
The Judiciary Committee continued that “as a first step, the Committee has served document requests to 81 agencies, entities, and individuals believed to have information relevant to the investigation,” specifically spanning administration officials, entities connected to the Trump 2016 campaign, and even the FBI.