The White House is refusing to give the House Oversight Committee any documents or produce any witnesses for its investigations, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday night. He called this an "unprecedented level of stonewalling, delay, and obstruction."
Cummings, the committee chair, said Democrats were elected so the House could serve as a "truly independent check and balance on the executive branch." His committee is the House's primary investigative body, and he has sent the White House 12 letters on six topics, "some routine and some relating to our core national security interests." The White House, Cummings said, "has not turned over a single piece of paper to our committee or made a single official available for testimony during the 116th Congress."
One investigation is focused on White House security clearances in the wake of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn lying about his communications with the Russian ambassador and reports that President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, received a top-secret clearance despite warnings from security officials. The White House "offered to let us read — but not keep — a few pages of policy documents that have nothing to do with the officials we are investigating, along with a general briefing on those policies during which they will answer no questions about specific employees," Cummings wrote.
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Cummings listed the different requests that have been ignored, including asks for documents related to Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, making hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, and for information about White House officials allegedly using private email to conduct business, which is illegal. "If our committee must resort to issuing subpoenas, there should be no doubt about why," Cummings said. Read the entire revealing op-ed at The Washington Post.
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