Democrats Puzzled by State IG’s ‘Urgent’ Meeting

House Democrats are trying to figure out the significance of the packet of documents that the State Department inspector general presented to lawmakers Wednesday.

Inspector General Steve Linick had asked for what he called an “urgent” closed-door meeting with House members, creating intrigue that he may have vital information in the Trump impeachment inquiry.

But Judiciary Committee member Jamie Raskin — the only lawmaker who showed up — told reporters that Linick presented a packet of documents, some with Trump Hotel or White House insignia, rehashing conspiracy theories and familiar unproven charges of corruption against former Vice President Joe Biden.

There were also internal emails talking about criticism of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

Late Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani told CNN that he was the one who sent the documents to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in late March.

“They told me they were going to investigate it,” Giuliani told CNN.

Raskin said the whole operation surrounding the package of papers looks “amateurish.”

He called it a “completely irrelevant distraction” from the current political situation in Washington.

The Democratic Chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and Oversight committees said late Wednesday that the documents “reinforce concern that the president and his allies sought to use the machinery of the State Department to further the president’s personal political interests.”

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