The Trump administration is stonewalling in the face of Congressional investigative efforts. In a newly published piece in The Washington Post, House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) outlined an array of lines of inquiry which the White House has absolutely refused to cooperate with, failing to hand over a single requested document or make a single sought official available for questioning. The topics of investigation range from the Trump team’s security clearance process to the widely publicized illegal hush money scheme targeting women with whom President Donald Trump had affairs.
Utilizing a phrase the president has repeatedly used to hyperbolically (at best) deride those scrutinizing his team, Cummings asserted:
‘President Trump’s actions violate our Constitution’s fundamental principle of checks and balances. If our committee must resort to issuing subpoeanas, there should be no doubt about why. This has nothing to do with presidential harassment and everything to do with unprecedented obstruction.’
Cummings wasn’t vague. Elsewhere, he ran through a point-by-point list of issues spanning twelve letters he’s sent the White House in which the Trump team has absolutely refused to cooperate.
The committee has sought information specific to the processes of granting security clearances of officials ranging from former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn to Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, but all the Trump team has offered is “a few pages” of general policy documents the panel couldn’t even keep a copy of and a general policy briefing in which they’ll refuse to answer any questions covering specific employees.
That’s not at all to say the issues aren’t pressing. Flynn was revealed to have been a pawn of the Turkish government while working with the Trump team, having lobbied for them in the United States on issues like their aim to drag dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen from the U.S. to face accusations of having orchestrated a coup.
Kushner, meanwhile, has been allowed to ascend at a wild pace to helping steer foreign policy considering his complete lack of experience, drawing the United States into close relationships with figures like Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who helped direct the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year. Concern has also covered his past relationships with foreign powers to the point of authorities ranging from the White House personnel office to the nation’s intel community recommending against him getting a security clearance that he now has, reportedly thanks to the president’s intervention.
Cummings wants to know exactly what happened and why. As mentioned, he’s also after answers on a variety of other topics, ranging from the hush money scheme to “reports from whistleblowers that the administration allegedly rushed to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in violation of the Atomic Energy Act.”
The White House has refused to comply in any of these areas, despite Cummings noting that last November, “the American people voted overwhelmingly to put Democrats in charge of the House of Representatives to start serving as a truly independent check and balance on the executive branch.”
Americans will have the opportunity to vote in what’s essentially another referendum on the current administration not that far in the future when a Democrat may unseat Trump in the White House.
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