A judge on Friday handed the Democrats a victory by affirming the legality of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Chief US District Judge Beryl Howell also ordered the Justice Department to give the House secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
The judge ordered the justice department to turn over the materials by October 30.
The Democrats have been gathering testimonies about the Trump administration's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and the Democrats.
Republicans have been arguing that the impeachment inquiry is a sham as the entire house did not vote for a resolution to authorise one. They used the same arguments in 1974 and later in 1998 when impeachment inquiry for Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton began.
The redacted grand jury material mentioned in Mueller's report could reveal previously hidden details about Trump's actions during the 2016 election and push impeachment proceedings further. According to the Justice Department, that information is the only piece of the document that key lawmakers have not had access to. The department, added that the House Panel could not show how the material would help in the committee's investigations of Trump.
With many key witnesses in the Trump orbit, including former White House counsel Don McGahn, submitting to voluntary interviews before Mueller's team, it is unclear how much significant new information tied to the president is contained in the grand jury transcripts.
Judge Howell, in a 75-page ruling accompanying the order, slashed through many of the administration's arguments for withholding materials from Congress, including that there was a need to keep the information secret even though the investigation had ended. The judge, in her report, noted an extraordinary directive by his White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, that executive branch officials should not provide testimony to impeachment investigators.
“The reality is that DOJ (department of justice) and the White House have been openly stonewalling the House's efforts to get information by subpoena and by agreement, and the White House has flatly stated that the Administration will not cooperate with congressional requests for information," the judge wrote, in her ruling.
On the Republicans claim that the house never voted on impeachment she wrote, "A House resolution has never, in fact, been required."
The judge also rejected the Justice Department's argument that impeachment does not qualify as a "judicial proceeding." That distinction matters because, though grand jury testimony is ordinarily secret, one exemption that allows it to be legally disclosed is in connection with a judicial proceeding.
"To the extent, the House's role in the impeachment context is to investigate misconduct by the President and ascertain whether that conduct amounts to an impeachable offence warranting removal from office, the House performs a function somewhat akin to a grand jury," the judge wrote.
Democrats hailed the ruling and Rep. Jerrold Nadler said the department of justice recognised that “our impeachment inquiry fully comports with the Constitution.”
