Senators Ask How to Make Presidency More Responsive to Their Questions

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel tried to unravel questions last week about how to gather evidence for investigations despite what one senator called “the information blockade” by the presidency.

“In recent years, it has been harder and harder to get meaningful answers from the executive branch,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Lawmakers’ complaints were heightened in recent months by the refusal of Trump administration officials to testify about the former president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol.

Several members of his administration claimed an “absolute immunity” and “executive privilege” the Constitution and court precedents grant to members of a presidential administration.

Members of Congress disagree executive privilege is broad enough to make the presidential staff immune from liability and subpoenas when they might have engaged in criminal behavior.

Disagreements over the extent of executive privilege prompted the Senate Judiciary’s subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights to call in the Justice Department’s top advisor on presidential authority for the hearing.

“We need to fix this mess Mr. Schroeder,” Whitehouse told Christopher H. Schroeder, who heads the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

When questions arise about executive privilege, the Office of Legal Counsel makes the decisions that guide Justice Department policy. If they grow into a dispute between the presidency and Congress, the Office of Legal Counsel tries to negotiate a resolution between them.

In recent years, resolution of disputes has either been elusive or too slow for lawmakers who want quick answers.

Schroeder did not offer new solutions to congressional complaints. He explained how the Office of Legal Counsel performs its duties.

“We don’t call balls and strikes between an agency and Congress unless they’re making a mistake of law,” he said.

The Senate hearing coincides with mounting legal problems for Donald Trump, not only on whether he incited the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection but also about whether he used the presidency to help his family’s real estate business.

Last week, he was subpoenaed by a House committee investigating the insurrection. On Monday, a different congressional committee released a report showing the Trump Organization would sometimes house Secret Service agents in its hotels and charge them as much as $1,185 per night.

The hotel rent was more than five times the recommended government rate for employees. Total billings to the Secret Service during the Trump presidency are likely to exceed $1.4 million, according to the House Oversight and Reform Committee report.

Eric Trump, the former president’s son, denied wrongdoing in a statement that said, "Any services rendered to the United States Secret Service or other government agencies at Trump owned properties were at their request and were either provided at cost, heavily discounted or for free.”

Allegations about using the presidency to benefit his family business are essentially the same as evidence presented by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine in a lawsuit against the Trump Organization.

The lawsuit says the Trump Inaugural Committee misappropriated money from a charitable trust during the 2016 presidential campaign and that Trump used the influence of the presidency to increase his corporate profits.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.