The White House has not turned over a single document requested by the Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee, Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a Washington Post op-ed Tuesday evening.
“The problem is that the White House is engaged in an unprecedented level of stonewalling, delay and obstruction,” Cummings wrote.
According to his op-ed, the document and interview requests in all 12 of his letters sent to the White House have gone unfulfilled. Among them are requests that the White House produce documents related to the committee’s investigation into the Trump administration’s security clearance process, which has received scrutiny amid reports that President Trump sought to overrule other officials who rejected granting his son-in-law Jared Kushner a permanent security clearance.
Instead of handing over the documents, the White House has 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,” Cummings wrote. The White House has also offered a general briefing, according to Cummings, where questions about specific administration officials won’t be answered.
That is not the only Oversight investigation that the White House is stiffing the committee on, according to Cummings. He also cited the committee’s investigation into hush money payments Michael Cohen made to alleged Trump paramours, for which the White House has only allowed the committee to read — and not take with it — 30 pages that are either heavily redacted or already public.
“The White House has also refused to produce any documents or witnesses in response to our other investigations, including White House officials’ alleged use of personal email in violation of federal law; allegations that the president may have violated the Presidential Records Act by destroying documents; and reports from whistleblowers that the administration allegedly rushed to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in violation of the Atomic Energy Act,” Cummings wrote.
