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June 20, 2017

House Democratic Leaders, Ranking Members Urge Attorney General Sessions & White House Counsel to Reverse Unprecedented Policy to Not Respond to Democratic Requests

(WASHINGTON) Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, along with House Democratic Leaders and Ranking Members sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Counsel Don McGahn urging them reverse their policy that instructs federal agencies in the Trump Administration to ignore oversight requests from Members of Congress.

The Members wrote, “This policy represents an unprecedented assault on the basic constitutional design of our republic: by denying access to basic oversight information to duly elected Representatives of Congress, the Trump Administration is attacking head-on the principles that underlie Article I of our Constitution. … We are deeply concerned with the President’s decision to abandon his pretenses at transparency and to wage a campaign of increasing secrecy if not outright dishonesty.  This issue is bigger than politics; it is about the integrity of our democracy and the oath that representatives of our government took to support and protect the Constitution of the United States.”

Full text of the letter.

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Media contact: Adam Comis at (202) 225-9978