New House investigation will make Trump wish it was just about Russia

Another day, another House investigation of Donald Trump — and this one isn’t just about whether Trump colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Wednesday that his committee was opening a wide-ranging investigation that would go “beyond Russia” to examine “any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving decision-making of the President or anyone in the administration.”

Schiff says he is going to investigate whether Saudi Arabia, Russia, or anyone else might have leverage over Trump, and plans to loop in several other committees to make sure the inquiry is comprehensive.

This inquiry includes, but is not limited to, looking into Russia’s contacts with the Trump team during the 2016 election — an investigation the Intelligence Committee is starting up all over again since former chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) did such a poor job at it the first time around.

As you can imagine, Trump isn’t happy about this, and moaned that “No other politician has to go through that.”

That’s patently untrue, of course. Both Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton endured investigations for far longer. But to Trump, this is “presidential harassment” that “really does hurt our country.”

This investigation comes on the heels of several others that the House has already opened.

Two weeks ago, three new investigations hit on the same day. The House Oversight Committee is digging into the comically abysmal White House security clearance process — the one that led to Jared Kushner getting a top secret clearance even though he really shouldn’t. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is looking at the interplay between Trump’s business dealings and his foreign policy moves. And back at House Intelligence, Schiff is looking at Deutsche Bank, Trump’s favorite lender and a likely conduit for major money laundering.

Republicans may cry foul, but it’s tough to be taken seriously when they pushed for investigation after pointless investigation into Benghazi, long after it was clear there was no new information to be gleaned.

Trump, however, is so compromised that it is going to take a long time — and a lot of investigations — to get to the bottom of it all.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.