We have every reason to believe that Donald Trump is the most corrupt American president since at least Warren Harding and perhaps ever. The fact that his adult sons continue to manage his business while serving as informal White House advisors is itself a major scandal. A big reason for wanting the Democrats to win back the House of Representatives in 2018 was the promise that they would do the work of oversight that the congressional GOP had avoided. But now that congressional oversight is here, we’ve entered a period of unprecedented stonewalling.
Congressman Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, has an important op-ed in The Washington Post laying out the fact that the White House is pursuing a stonewalling strategy:
I serve as chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, the primary investigative body in the House of Representatives. I have sent 12 letters to the White House on a half-dozen topics — some routine and some relating to our core national security interests. In response, the White House has refused to hand over any documents or produce any witnesses for interviews.
Let me underscore that point: The White House has not turned over a single piece of paper to our committee or made a single official available for testimony during the 116th Congress.
This op-ed is clearly a shot across the bow, a warning that the next step will be subpoenas. It also lays out the map for the coming struggle. Facing a non-docile House of Representatives, Trump will try to delay, delay, delay. He’ll drag this on as long as possible and claim “presidential harassment” to rile up his base. As with the Mueller investigation, we’re in for a long drawn-out fight.
