The White House is pushing back against a demand by House Democrats for information on security clearances for top officials, including the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in an early sign of how the Trump administration plans to resist a slew of probes.
"The committee has failed to point to any authority establishing a legitimate legislative purpose for the committee's unprecedented and extraordinarily intrusive demands," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote to Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. He called for "negotiations in good faith" rather than "legally unsupportable ultimatums."
The letter was released Tuesday but dated Monday, the same day the House Judiciary Committee demanded documents from 81 individuals, agencies and entities, including the White House, the Trump Organization and Donald Trump Jr.