White House Won't Give House Judiciary Docs on Trump's Role in DOJ AT&T/TW Lawsuit
The White House won't “provide the Committee with protected communications between [President Donald Trump] and his most senior advisors” related to the House Judiciary Committee's questions about whether the president pressured two now-former administration officials to ensure the DOJ filed a now-ended lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner, Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote committee Democratic leaders. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., pressed the Trump administration in March for the documents amid reports that Trump in 2017 ordered then-National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and then-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to pressure DOJ into mounting the legal challenge to AT&T/TW (see 1903080044). DOJ said in February it wouldn't further appeal its challenge of the deal after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against it (see 1902260040).
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“We will continue to work in good faith to accommodate [House Judiciary's] legitimate oversight interests while at the same time respecting the separation of powers and the constitutional prerogatives of the President,” Cipollone said in a letter House Judiciary Democrats released Tuesday. “It has long been recognized that robust confidentiality protections are essential for the proper functioning of the Presidency, as the President must be able to consult with and receive candid advice from his advisors, particularly his most senior advisors.” The lawmakers' “requests for information concerning a particular antitrust matter are best directed to [DOJ], which I understand has received a similar letter and will be responding in due course,” Cipollone said.
Nadler and Cicilline also questioned “the role of a President in the administration of the antitrust laws” and the Trump administration believes “the President has an important role in the antitrust area,” Cipollone said. “The Constitution imposes on the President the duty to ensure the laws are faithfully executed.” Other Hill Democrats have also sought probes of Trump's involvement in the DOJ's lawsuit decision (see 1903040027 and 1903050069).
House Judiciary “will continue to pursue” its probe into Trump's role in the AT&T/TW decision, Nadler and Cicilline said in a joint statement Tuesday. “It appears [Cipollone] believes that the President has unfettered discretion to use law enforcement as a political weapon. That view of presidential power not only disregards well-established policies and norms that prohibit the White House from interfering in law enforcement activities, but is also incompatible with our democracy.” Federal antitrust enforcement “must be guided by the rule of law, not used as a political cudgel to reward friends and punish enemies or to retaliate against the press for the exercise of its First Amendment rights,” the Democrats said. “In what has become a troubling pattern for the Trump Administration, [Cipollone] has made a blanket claim that all White House communications -- regardless of whether they contain evidence of improper or even unlawful activities -- are protected by a cone of secrecy.”