House Democrats launch massive obstruction of justice and corruption probe aimed at Trump

The House Judiciary Committee announced Monday that it is requesting documents from 81 people or entities as part of a probe into potential obstruction of justice, corruption, and abuse of power by President Donald Trump and his associates.

It’s the first major move from the committee’s new chair, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), and it should be taken seriously because the House Judiciary Committee would take the lead in any potential impeachment of President Trump.

Most of the document requests are targeted at people or entities that have come up connected to news coverage of the Russia scandal — some in areas that have resulted in charges from Mueller’s team, and others in areas that have not. Additionally, there is another set of requests aimed at surfacing potential corruption related to Trump’s business practices and the hush money payments to women who alleged affairs with Trump.

Politico’s Andrew Desiderio and Darren Samuelsohn report that, according to a senior committee lawyer, “the document request was put together with sign-off from prosecutors in Mueller’s office and the Southern District of New York.”

You can read the full list — and, even more interestingly, the specific scope of each particular document request — at the House Judiciary Committee’s website. But below, I’ve organized the recipients of the document requests by topic, to provide a better sense of this investigation’s scope. (Note that some people fit into multiple categories — I’ve only listed each person once to avoid repetition.)

The Judiciary Committee is focusing intensely on potential corruption related to the Trump Organization, and any potential inappropriate intrusion of business interests on government policy.

More than a dozen people who worked on or advised Trump’s presidential campaign at various points have been hit with document requests; the list is heavy on people whose names have come up in connection with the Russia investigation.

The Trump inauguration is currently under investigation from federal prosecutors in New York, with its donations and spending both coming under scrutiny. The Judiciary Committee is asking for documents related to foreign influence from both the committee itself and its chair, Tom Barrack.

The Judiciary Committee is also asking for documents related to potential obstruction of justice from several government agencies and former administration officials:

Trump has had several lawyers coming and going from his legal team for the Russia investigation, but Democrats are particularly interested in two people related to potential obstruction of justice.

The first is Jay Sekulow, who’s still on the legal team, and who reviewed Michael Cohen’s false statements about the Trump Tower Moscow before Cohen submitted them to Congress. The second is Mark Corallo, who had a brief stint as the legal team’s spokesperson but reportedly grew alarmed about potential obstruction of justice.

Next, Democrats are asking for documents from a broad set of individuals and entities that have come up in connection with the Trump-Russia scandal writ large.

Some of these people are connected to events or subjects that have already been the subject of charges by special counsel Robert Mueller or other prosecutors:

Then there are several other document requests focusing on topics that have been probed by Mueller or other investigators but have not yet resulted in any charges.

Last but not least, the Judiciary Committee has requested documents in connection with the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, two women who alleged affairs with Trump, during the 2016 campaign.

For more on the Mueller probe, follow Andrew Prokop on Twitter and check out Vox’s guide to the Trump-Russia investigation.