CONGRESS/INVESTIGATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump is definitely building a wall — but it is between the White House and the House of Representatives. In the aftermath of Robert S. Mueller III’s report, the White House has quickly assumed a defiant, hard-line stance that it will not respect subpoenas and demands for information from various House committees exploring the president’s conduct and business affairs. It is an extreme position even measured against the reluctance of past administrations to produce potentially damaging witnesses and evidence of executive branch wrongdoing or ineptitude. Such a blanket refusal has serious implications not only for the relationship between the current Congress and the administration, but also for the future ability of Congress to conduct oversight of any administration, depending on how the intensifying fight plays out…After striking an increasingly combative tone following the release of Mr. Mueller’s findings, Mr. Trump proclaimed on Wednesday [4-25-19] that the White House would be ‘fighting all the subpoenas’ because he considered them partisan and politically motivated.”
–Carl Hulse, “Trump’s Stonewalling Takes Clash Between Branches to a New Level,” The New York Times online, April 25, 2019