House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) adopted House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) characterization of the letter the White House sent him on Congress’ oversight limitations, and said it was “beneath the dignity” of the office of the president to send it.
During her weekly press conference on Thursday, Pelosi called the letter “completely outrageous.” She claimed the White House’s argument — that it wouldn’t comply with congressional requests unless there was legislative purpose — was obsolete because lawmakers can pursue impeachment.
“When they are saying, ‘unless you have a legislative purpose, you cannot ask any questions, you can’t investigate unless you have a legislative purpose.’ But one of the purposes that the Constitution spells out for investigation is impeachment and so you can say you need this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities and among them is impeachment,” she said, reiterating impeachment is just a “path” to get the information, not necessarily the endgame.
“(The letter is a) joke, beneath the dignity of the presidency of the United States, in defiance of the Constitution,” she said. “Shame on them.”
