Latest in congressional oversight
The Department of Justice has informed the House Oversight and Reform Committee that President Trump has exerted executive privilege over certain documents subpoenaed by the committee regarding the administration's decision to include a question about U.S. citizenship in the 2020 census. The letter can be read here and below.
The legal team on behalf of President Trump and the Trump Organization has filed a brief in the case of Trump v. Mazars USA, in which Trump, in his personal capacity, is seeking to block a subpoena of his accounting firm by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The district court ruled against Trump last month and oral arguments in the U.S.
A federal judge is expediting his decision on whether the House oversight committee has the authority to obtain Trump’s financial information from his accounting firm.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone has sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler questioning the validity of the committee's investigation into, as the committee stated, "alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump, his associates, and members of his Administration." Cipollone stated that the White House "[does] not believe the investigation ...
At 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the House Committee on the Judiciary will hear testimony from legal experts on the issue of executive privilege and congressional oversight. A video of the hearing is available below.
Witnesses include Kate Shaw of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; Paul Rosenzweig of R Street Institute, and a contributing editor of Lawfare; Jonathan Turley of George Washington University Law School; and Neil Kinkopf of Georgia State University College of Law.
Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin has sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee denying that committee access to President Trump's tax returns. The letter is available here and below.
The White House sent a letter on Monday to counsel for Carl Kline, former White House personnel security director, directing him to not comply with a subpoena issued by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Rep. Elijah Cummings served the first subpoenas issued to executive branch officials in the 116th Congress, and Rep. Jerry Nadler now has the option of following suit.
Six Democratic House committee chairs have sent a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr, following up on their previous request that the Justice Department to provide Congress Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report. The letter, available here and below, responded to two letters from Barr on the issue: his Mar.
Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary Doug Collins (R-Ga.) has released the transcript of the committee's June 5, 2018 interview with former assistant director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division Bill Priestap. The full transcript is available here and below.