The White House has directed two former senior West Wing officials not to cooperate with House Judiciary Committee subpoenas for documents in the panel’s investigation into potential obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump, according to a letter the White House counsel sent to the committee chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., on Tuesday.

The committee issued subpoenas for documents and testimony from White House communications director Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson Talley, the former chief-of-staff to Don McGahn, Trump’s first White House counsel, last month. The committee also requested documents related to the Trump campaign and transition from Hicks, who served at Trump’s side through his White House run.

In the letter, White House counsel Pat Cipillone said the documents subpoenaed were related to subjects of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. He wrote the “documents include White House records that remain legally protected from disclosure under longstanding constitutional principles, because they implicate significant Executive Branch confidentiality interests and executive privilege. Because Ms. Talley and Ms. Hicks do not have the legal right to disclose the White House records to third parties, I would ask that the Committee direct any request for such records to the White House, the appropriate legal custodian.”

“Federal law makes clear that the documents we requested — documents that left the White House months ago — are no longer covered by executive privilege, if they ever were,” he said in a statement. “The President has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request.”

In a letter to the panel, Robert Trout, a lawyer representing Hicks, detailed some of the campaign-related materials provided to the committee, noting that Hicks had previously turned over similar records on March 22.

Documents related to her time in the White House and presidential transition were not turned over, Trout said, arguing that the decision to release those originating with the White House and transition “is not hers to make.” Read more

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