Sen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyGOP lawmakers distance themselves from Trump comments on transfer of power The Hill's 12:30 Report: Ginsburg lies in repose Top GOP senators say Hunter Biden's work 'cast a shadow' over Obama Ukraine policy MORE (R-Iowa) is ripping the Trump administration for ignoring oversight requests from rank-and-file senators, calling the policy "nonsense."

Grassley, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, wants President Trump to reverse an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that prioritized requests from committee chairmen, all of whom are Republicans.

"[The opinion] falsely asserts that only requests from committees or their chairs are 'constitutionally authorized,' and relegates requests from non-Chairmen to the position of 'non-oversight' inquiries— whatever that means. This is nonsense," Grassley wrote in a letter to Trump, sent this week.

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Grassley added that the rule hurts both Democrats and rank-and-file Republicans, and the White House should "rescind this OLC opinion and any policy of ignoring oversight requests from non-Chairmen."

"I thank Chairman Grassley for defending not just Congress' right but its duty to conduct oversight," Schumer said. "We hope other Republican chairmen will follow Chairman Grassley’s lead in demanding the administration withdraw this misguided memo. This is the same standard they themselves set when they were in the minority," he added. Grassley's seven-page letter comes after the White House told agencies to ignore Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests in order to keep them from gaining information that could be used against Trump.

The Office of Legal Counsel issued a guidance memo in May that formally restricted the ability of most members to get answers to any oversight requests.

"Individual members of Congress, including ranking minority members, do not have the authority to conduct oversight in the absence of a specific delegation by a full house, committee, or subcommittee," according to the memo.

But Grassley hit back at the OLC reasoning, warning that the decision to crack down on oversight requests "doesn’t drain the swamp, Mr. President. It floods the swamp."

"Unless Congress explicitly tells the Executive Branch to withhold information based on committee membership or leadership position, there is no legal or Constitutional basis for the Executive Branch to do so," the Iowa Republican said.

Democrats are growing increasingly frustrated by what they argue is the Trump administration's near-blanket blockade on their requests for information. Senate Democrats released a collection this week of more than 100 letters sent to the Trump administration since Jan. 25 that they say have been ignored.

Grassley, who has a reputation for frequently requesting information from the administration, noted in his letter that he had "significant problems" in getting answers from the Obama administration, regardless of whether or not Republicans controlled Congress.

But he argued the new OLC guidelines amount to treating lawmakers with "contempt."

"For OLC to so fundamentally misunderstand and misstate such a simple fact exposes its shocking lack of professionalism and objectivity. Indeed, OLC appears to have utterly failed to live up to its own standards," he wrote.

Updated: 3:13 p.m.