The White House expands its fight to bury the Mueller Report on Trump-Russia links, and to withhold Donald Trump’s tax returns from Congress.
On Tuesday, the White House tried to block any handover of documents by former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, a central figure in Trump’s obstruction of justice over the Russia investigation.
In a letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler, current White House Counsel Pat Cipollone indicated that Trump will assert executive privilege:
The White House provided these records to Mr. McGahn in connection with its cooperation with the special counsel’s investigation and with clear understanding that the records remain subject to the control of the White House for all purposes.
The White House records remain legally protected from disclosure under longstanding constitutional principle, because they implicate significant executive branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege.
The White House has already tried to deter McGahn from testifying before the committee, urging him not to comply with a subpoena.
The effort is part of a sweeping tactic to prevent any testimony or provision of documents over the evidence in the Mueller Report or Trump’s financial matters. Trump’s lawyers have told his accounts not to comply with a subpoena for financial statements, and the Treasury has denied access to Trump’s tax records.
EA on Monocle 24 and Radio FM4: Trump’s Obstruction of Justice; Barr’s Contempt of Congress
According to the report, Trump ordered McGahn in June 2017 to arrange the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. When news broke in early 2018 of the incident, Trump instructed McGahn to deny the episode.
On both occasions, the White House Counsel refused to carry out Trump’s commands.
McGahn faced a Tuesday deadline to turn over the documents. Democrats are likely to argue that Trump waived executive privilege when he allowed the counsel to share the material with Trump’s private lawyer and to discuss it at length with Mueller’s team in 30 hours of interviews.
McGahn’s lawyer William Burck wrote the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he will await the outcome of any discussions between the committee and the White House.
White House Threat Over Contempt of Congress
The Judiciary Committee was planning to issue a contempt of Congress charge on Wednesday against Attorney General William Barr, over Barr’s failure to provide unredacted copies of the Mueller Report to legislators.
Barr has balked at several deadlines to deliver the report. He has said that material must be blacked out because of grand jury investigations and intelligence methods. But House Democrats have noted that in past cases such as Watergate unredacted reports have been provided in confidence.
The White House issued a threat on Tuesday that, if the Committee issues the charge, it will ensure that no copies of the report are delivered.
Justice Department officials and Committee lawyers met Tuesday to pursue a compromise, but sources said the discussions ended acrimoniously.
The Justice Department also is trying to prevent the House Intelligence Committee from obtaining all intelligence and counterintelligence information collected by Mueller’s team. A committee aide said Tuesday that discussions are making no progress and Committee will soon issue a subpoena.
Treasury Secretary Blocks Release of Trump Tax Returns
After weeks of delay, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin finally denied the request by the House Ways and Means Committee for Trump’s tax returns from 2012 to 2018.
“I am informing you now that the Department may not lawfully fulfill the Committee’s request,” Mnuchin wrote in a one-page letter, written in consultation with Justice Department lawyers.
The Treasury Secretary had missed two deadlines for provision of the returns. He claimed that the request by House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, under a 1924 tax law adopted over a corrupt scandal during the Warren Harding Presidency, is “unprecedented” and raises “serious constitutional questions” with consequences for taxpayer privacy.
An “administration official familiar with the matter” said “the Justice Department is prepared to litigate” the matter in courts.
Committee chairman Rep. Richard Neal said he is considering next steps, “I will consult with counsel and determine the appropriate response.”
Subpoenas could be issued or contempt of Congress charges filed against Mnuchin or the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner.
Both the Ways and Means Committee and House Oversight Committee are pursuing hearings over Trump’s possible conflicts of interest and legal violations in connection with the financial records. The cases have escalated because of testimony by Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen that Trump may have committed fraud with false statements of his wealth to mislead tax and insurance officials.
Trump’s lawyers have told accountants Mazars USA not to comply with an Oversight Committee subpoena for financial statements, after the Washington Post published an exposé based on three years of statements supplied by Cohen.
On Wednesday, The New York Times revealed — on the basis of Trump’s tax returns from 1986 to 1994 — that the self-proclaimed billionaire actually lost $1.17 billion between 1985 and 1994.
