The House committee quietly racking up oversight wins against Trump

The House Foreign Affairs Committee's bipartisan, low-profile oversight of the Trump administration has secured a handful of victories.

By ANDREW DESIDERIO 06/17/2019 02:20 PM EDT

House Democrats are largely pursuing flashy, partisan, made-for-TV investigations targeting President Donald Trump, but one panel is taking a different approach — and getting results.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is quietly amassing documents on allegations of politically-motivated retaliation at the State Department; it’s looking into whether Trump has violated foreign emoluments and conflict of interest rules; and lawmakers are working to find out more about the president's relationship with Vladimir Putin and how he leads American foreign policy behind the scenes — all without the fanfare associated with the other committees’ work.

The panel has secured wins on a number of fronts, and aides and lawmakers alike attribute that to the under-the-radar support they’re getting from Republicans, many of whom have grown exasperated with the president’s decisions on foreign policy and national security issues. It’s also a historically bipartisan committee that boasts a strong relationship between the top Democrat and Republican on the panel.

“People are concerned to know the relationship between Putin and Trump,” Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said in an interview. “We’re working our way there.”

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/17/house-foreign-affairs-panel-oversight-trump-1365840