Even as President Donald Trump's spokespeople attack the political motives of Democrats, White House lawyers are building legal arguments against their investigations. | Win McNamee/Getty Images White House White House launches fire-breathing campaign to attack House Dem probes The Trump administration has refused or delayed turning over documents in 30 investigations by 12 House committees, Democrats tell POLITICO.

President Donald Trump’s strategy on congressional investigations has amounted to a two-pronged strategy: dodge requests — and attack, attack, attack.

The White House launched a fire-breathing public relations response to House Democrats while the Trump administration has refused or delayed turning over documents in 30 investigations by a dozen committees, according to House Democrats.


The delays buy time for White House officials to weigh important legal decisions, including whether to claim executive privilege or inovke a policy that provides immunity for senior White House aides.

White House allies, meanwhile, are in favor of a prolonged fight with Capitol Hill.

“They shouldn’t roll over,” said Scott Jennings, a public relations executive who is close to the Trump White House and was subpoenaed by the Senate when he worked for Republican George W. Bush. “This entire exercise is to paralyze the administration and grind it to a halt.”

Officials who refuse to comply could be held in contempt by the Democratic-controlled House and hauled into court, according to lawyers familiar with the process. But Congress historically been very reluctant to take that path.

Already, the administration has failed to turn over requested documents covering a wide range of issues, from security clearances to Trump’s communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin to his policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the southern U.S. border.

Even as Trump spokespeople attack the political motives of Democrats, White House lawyers are building legal arguments against their investigations. In a Monday letter to the House Oversight Committee about security clearances, White House counsel Pat Cipollone argued that the panel “has failed to point to any authority establishing a legitimate legislative purpose for [its] unprecedented and extraordinarily intrusive demands.”

In total, the administration has 30 times refused or delayed turning over documents to 12 House committees. They include Natural Resources, Energy and Commerce and Foreign Affairs, according to a House Democratic document obtained by POLITICO. In one case, the IRS not only failed to provide documents but removed information from its website related to the issue, according to the document.

Six administration officials refused to appear before five committees while two officials have refused to come in for interviews with two other committees, according to the document.

Some Democrats are repaying the Trump administration’s early unresponsiveness by upping the ante.

“The White House failed to provide any response to our inquiry,” several Democratic committee chairs wrote in letters to multiple Trump officials about a February request for information about Trump’s private communications with Putin. “As a result we are now expanding our investigation.”

Neil Eggleston, a former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, said the House committees' meticulous detailing of the administration’s failure to respond helps “set up the groundwork” for them to issue subpoenas — a precursor to the chamber voting to hold a person in contempt of Congress.

This week, the House Judiciary Committee issued a massive request for documents from 81 entities and people in Trump’s orbit — including his two adult sons — as it tries to investigate a slew of allegations against the president.

Trump and his allies responded with fury. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a white-hot statement decrying "disgraceful and abusive" queries and the Republican National Committee's chairwoman tweeted about "investigations in search of a crime."

At the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that the latest round of Democratic requests is illegitimate.

“The witch hunt continues,” Trump said. “The fact is that, I guess we got 81 letters ... And they want to do that instead of getting legislation done ... It’s a disgrace, it’s a disgrace for our country. I’m not surprised that it’s happening.”

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“Instead of quickly getting caught up in the quicksand of the oversight process, the White House is focusing on framing this in the media as a partisan assault by Democrats aimed at taking out Trump and stopping the progress he’s made for Americans,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, who has advised the Trump White House.

Trump aides were ill-prepared to handle the onslaught. They were slow to hire lawyers and other staff, warn aides to retain personal attorneys and research sensitive issues to prepare for the investigations even after it became clear the Democrats would win the House, according to several Republicans close to the administration.

“It’s still a work in progress,” said a former White House official.

When Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress during the first two years of Trump’s term, they largely protected the White House from turning over documents — a common practice when both branches of government are controlled by the same party.

But since January, nearly every House committee has launched investigations into everything from the easing of sanctions on businesses tied to a Russian oligarch to the federal government’s lease with the Trump International Hotel in Washington. In many cases, the deadlines to respond have not passed.

Some requests have been sent directly to the White House while others have gone to individual departments or agencies, where they are reviewed before being sent to the counsel’s office and Cabinet Affairs office at the White House, according to people familiar with the process.

The White House will need to eventually decide whether to invoke executive privilege, which allows a president to shield certain communications from legislative and judicial branches.

It also can use a long-standing Department of Justice policy, affirmed by presidents of both parties, that allows top White House advisers to be immune from testifying. In the Trump White House, those officials likely include acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, counselor Kellyanne Conway, and daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both senior advisers.

If the administration ignores a subpoena, the House could vote to hold an official in contempt of Congress — and then take them to court.

The GOP-led House in 2012 voted to hold President Barack Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, in contempt for failing to turn over documents related to the "Fast and Furious" scandal. But two years later, a federal judge rejected a bid to hold Holder in contempt, calling it "entirely unnecessary."

Trump’s former acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, initially sought to delay testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, which was eager to speak to him about the investigation into whether the Trump campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. But he eventually struck a deal with Democrats last month to testify.

Don Goldberg, who worked on congressional investigations as an aide to President Bill Clinton and as a staffer on Capitol Hill, said presidents rarely invoke executive privilege and Congress rarely holds administration officials in contempt — extreme measures. Instead, the executive and legislative branches try to negotiate a compromise before it gets that far. “It’s talked about a lot but it’s rarely invoked and rarely litigated,” he said.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.