Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/12

 equivalent to or exceeded those afforded to Presidents Nixon and Clinton.

II.Background: Conduct of the House's Inquiry and Privileges Afforded to President Trump

A.Proceedings Leading to Adoption of House Resolution 660

In early 2019, the Judiciary Committee began investigating potential abuses of office by President Trump, including obstruction of law enforcement investigations relating to Russia's interference in the 2016 United States Presidential election. That investigation, which came to include consideration of whether to recommend articles of impeachment, was conducted in full public view and through public hearings. To the extent the Committee reviewed or obtained materials that it did not make available to the public, it did so in order to accommodate specific requests by the Executive Branch. The Committee also obtained responses to written questions from one fact witness and made those responses available to the public; and it conducted one closed-door transcribed interview of a fact witness during which White House attorneys were present, then released a transcript of the interview the following day. During this period, HPSCI also continued to investigate foreign intelligence and counterintelligence risks arising from efforts by Russia and other foreign powers to influence the United States political process during and since the 2016 election.

Beginning in the spring and summer of 2019, evidence came to light that President Trump and his associates might have been seeking the assistance of another foreign government, Ukraine, to influence the upcoming 2020 election. On September 9, 2019, the Investigating Committees announced they were launching a joint investigation and requested documents and records from the White House and the Department of State. In parallel, evidence emerged that the President may have attempted to cover up his actions and prevent the transmission of information to which HPSCI was entitled by law. Given the gravity of these allegations and the immediacy of the threat to the next

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