Trump’s Defiance of the House Inquiry Is Hard to Defend
The White House’s reluctance to hand over documents is not unusual. But its categorical refusal to cooperate is.
These aren’t normal circumstances.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The White House’s fierce response to the impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives, calling the enterprise “an unconstitutional effort” and a violation of “constitutionally mandated due process,” seems to make one commitment: noncooperation.
The key sentence in the eight-page letter, signed by White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone, is this: “Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to participate in it.”