Trump says he opposes White House aides testifying to Congress
US President Donald Trump says he is opposed to current or former aides testifying before various congressional committees following the special counsel report, intensifying a power struggle between the Republican administration and Democrats in the House of Representatives.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Trump said complying with requests by Democrats in the lower chamber of Congress was unnecessary after the White House cooperated with Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US elections and the president’s attempt to obstruct the probe.
“There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,” Trump said. “I don’t want people testifying to a party, because that is what they’re doing if they do this.”
Trump’s comments came as the White House announced it would defy requests for information from Capitol Hill, moving the two branches of government closer to a constitutional collision.
On Tuesday, two White House officials said the administration plans to fight a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee for former White House counsel Donald McGahn by asserting executive privilege over his testimony.
Separately, the Trump administration directed former White House personnel security director Carl Kline not to comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, prompting the panel to move to hold him in contempt of Congress.
The US Treasury Department also defied a second demand from House Democrats to turn over six years of Trump’s tax returns, which would reveal his income and the taxes he paid.
In his interview with The Post, Trump said Democrats should be satisfied with what McGahn and other officials told Mueller, adding, further congressional cooperation was unreasonable.
“I allowed my lawyers and all the people to go and testify to Mueller — and you know how I feel about that whole group of people that did the Mueller report,” Trump said. “I was so transparent; they testified for so many hours. They have all of that information that’s been given.”
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