White House instructs Hope Hicks not to give documents to House committee
The White House has instructed former top Trump aide and confidante Hope Hicks and the onetime chief of staff to former White House Counsel Don McGahn not to hand over documents to the House Judiciary Committee, according to the committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler.
But Hicks has agreed to turn over some records related to her time working for the campaign, Nadler says.
The committee issued a subpoena last month to Hicks and Annie Donaldson, the former chief of staff to McGahn, in light of revelations in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
"The White House has instructed both Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to turn over records in response to subpoenas issued by our Committee last month. I note that Ms. Hicks has agreed to turn over some documents to the Committee related to her time working for the Trump Campaign, and I thank her for that show of good faith."
Hicks has been called to testify June 19.
News of the subpoenas from the Democratic-led committee came the same day McGahn failed failed to show up for a House Judiciary Committee hearing, after the White House and Justice Department insisted Congress could not make him appear.
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Nadler maintains that the documents he's requested can't be protected by executive privilege, the tool the president has been using to protect any paper trail.
"Federal law makes clear that the documents we requested—documents that left the White House months ago—are no longer covered by executive privilege, if they ever were," Nadler said in a statement. "The president has no lawful basis for preventing these witnesses from complying with our request. We will continue to seek reasonable accommodation on these and all our discovery requests and intend to press these issues when we obtain the testimony of both Ms. Hicks and Ms. Donaldson."
Hicks' attorney, Robert Trout, said in a statement that he and his client "respectfully decline" to provide the committee many documents based on White House advice, but also that those documents are also potentially protected by White House confidentiality interests or a claim of executive privilege.