White House Instructed 2 Former Officials To Defy Congressional Subpoena - US Congressman

Muhammad Irfan Published June 04, 2019 | 09:21 PM

The White House instructed former administration officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson to not turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a press release on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2019) The White House instructed former administration officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson to not turn over documents in response to a congressional subpoena, US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a press release on Tuesday.

"As part of President Trump's continued obstruction of Congress, the White House has instructed both Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to turn over records in response to subpoenas issued by our [Judiciary] Committee last month," Nadler said.

However, Nadler said that former White House Communications Director Hicks showed "good faith" by agreeing to turn over some documents related to her time working for the Trump campaign.

Nader also said the US president has no lawful basis for preventing Hicks and Donaldson from complying with the Judiciary Committee's request.

According to media reports, Nadler said that both witnesses will be held in contempt if they do not comply with the subpoena.

On Wednesday, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller said he could not conclude that Trump committed a criminal act by allegedly obstructing the investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion because Justice Department policy prohibits indicting a sitting president.

Mueller said if his team felt Trump clearly did not commit a crime, they would have said so in the report released in April. The report concluded Trump did not collude with Russia, but Mueller said he could not exonerate the US president of allegedly obstructing justice.

US Attorney General William Barr said the evidence provided by Mueller does not lead to establishing an obstruction of justice offense.