WASHINGTON -- The White House said Tuesday night that it would refuse to allow its director of political strategy to testify today before a Republican-led House committee investigating whether the administration had illegally conducted political activity in the West Wing.
In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the president's top lawyer said that, as a member of the executive branch, Political Director David Simas had immunity from being compelled to testify before Congress.
Issa's committee subpoenaed Simas last week, contending that the White House should not have opened the Office of Political Strategy and Outreach this year. Issa told the White House in May that "the American people have a right to know if their tax dollars are being spent to support congressional campaigns during the 2014 midterm elections in violation of federal law."
In a statement Tuesday, Issa, R-Calif., said that the decision to prevent Simas from testifying was "another attack on our nation's Constitution" and that he planned to examine whether President Barack Obama intended to assert executive privilege.
In past confrontations between Congress and the executive branch, lawmakers have held officials in contempt if they refused to appear.
A Section on 07/16/2014