The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is accusing the White House of stonewalling congressional efforts to get details surrounding the use of personal emails by senior presidential advisers, including senior adviser Jared Kushner.

ADVERTISEMENT Although Gowdy had endorsed such a bipartisan request last month — and purportedly intends to issue such a request for other agencies outside the White House — Cummings said his refusal to press the issue inside the White House amounts to dereliction of duty on the part of the committee.

“Based on the record before us, I do not believe anyone can reasonably argue that the White House is in ‘full compliance’ with our document request,” Cummings wrote to Gowdy on Friday . “If you decide to follow-through on your proposed course of action, the Committee essentially will be abdicating its oversight responsibilities under the Constitution by walling off the White House from serious congressional scrutiny.

“Unfortunately, this is now becoming a troubling pattern of the Oversight Committee capitulating to the Trump White House rather than exercising its independent authority to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch.”

Gowdy was quick to respond, saying “the Democrats’ assertion that the White House has not cooperated is false” and vowing to continue the investigation.

“Our investigation into private email use for official business is government-wide and not about one entity. The Committee has been looking at the use of private email for years,” he said in an email.

“The White House provided a briefing this week to share specific details on all of our outstanding questions and committed to follow up at the conclusion of an ongoing investigation. Allegations that we have completed our engagement with the White House on this issue are absurd,” he added.

“As recently as this morning I was on the phone with a Cabinet-level official to ensure their full compliance. We need the documents — not the drama,” he said.

Gowdy and Cummings had teamed up last month on a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn requesting information about the use of personal emails, text messages and encrypted accounts by administration employees in the course of official duties. The letter came in response to a Politico report revealing that Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, and other White House aides had conducted official business over private email accounts.

“With numerous public revelations of senior executive branch employees deliberately trying to circumvent these laws by using personal, private, or alias email addresses to conduct official government business, the Committee has aimed to use its oversight and investigative resources to prevent and deter misuse of private forms of written communication,” Gowdy and Cummings wrote on Sept. 25

The lawmakers asked McGahn to identify the individuals and accounts of potential violators, and to provide the information by Oct. 9.

The White House responded on Oct. 10 in a letter from Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, saying the administration “has endeavored to educate” all staff, and employees “endeavor to comply with all relevant laws” related to the PRA. He did not provide the names or accounts of those who might have violated the law.

On Wednesday , Oversight and Government Reform Committee staffers met with three White House officials who “continued to refuse to identify any White House officials who used personal email accounts,” according to Cummings.

“[They] stated that several White House employees came forward and ‘confessed’ that they failed to forward official records from their personal email accounts to their governmental email accounts within 20 days , as the Presidential Records Act requires,” Cummings wrote in Friday’s letter to Gowdy.

Cummings said Gowdy rejected the Democrats’ entreaty, citing concerns about interfering in an ongoing criminal investigation into Flynn. Cummings said the explanation is inconsistent with Gowdy’s previous work as head of the special panel formed by Republicans to investigate the deadly 2012 attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Gowdy said he’s pleased that the Democrats, who had accused the Republicans of conducting a witch hunt surrounding Clinton’s use of private emails, are taking the issue seriously.

“I’m glad my Democrat colleagues now acknowledge the severity of the issue,” he said.