Post by ck4829 on Jun 3, 2017 11:38:47 GMT
Democrats face an unprecedented silent treatment from Trump World
Two months ago, congressional Democrats first went public with concerns that the Trump administration had ordered executive-branch officials to withhold information from Democratic offices. The Washington Post reported in April that leading lawmakers said “their staff members were told directly by workers in agencies that they could no longer speak with them.”
A month later, Senate Democrats raised the same concerns, accusing Donald Trump’s White House of “purposely ignoring requests for information” sent by Democratic offices.
Politico reports today that Dems aren’t paranoid; the administration’s partisan silent treatment is real.
The White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests, as Republicans fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.
At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration…. The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington, where the president and his administration already feels besieged by media reports and attacks from Democrats. The idea, Republicans said, is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from gaining new information that could be used to attack the president.
The White House didn’t exactly deny this. On the contrary, a spokesperson said the administration’s policy is to “accommodate” oversight requests from committee chairs, “regardless of their political party.”
This, of course, is hilarious, since in a Republican-led House and Senate, every committee chair is a Republican. The quote is effectively an admission that Democratic requests for oversight information are not “accommodated” by this administration.
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/democrats-face-unprecedented-silent-treatment-trump-world
Two months ago, congressional Democrats first went public with concerns that the Trump administration had ordered executive-branch officials to withhold information from Democratic offices. The Washington Post reported in April that leading lawmakers said “their staff members were told directly by workers in agencies that they could no longer speak with them.”
A month later, Senate Democrats raised the same concerns, accusing Donald Trump’s White House of “purposely ignoring requests for information” sent by Democratic offices.
Politico reports today that Dems aren’t paranoid; the administration’s partisan silent treatment is real.
The White House is telling federal agencies to blow off Democratic lawmakers’ oversight requests, as Republicans fear the information could be weaponized against President Donald Trump.
At meetings with top officials for various government departments this spring, Uttam Dhillon, a White House lawyer, told agencies not to cooperate with such requests from Democrats, according to Republican sources inside and outside the administration…. The declaration amounts to a new level of partisanship in Washington, where the president and his administration already feels besieged by media reports and attacks from Democrats. The idea, Republicans said, is to choke off the Democratic congressional minorities from gaining new information that could be used to attack the president.
The White House didn’t exactly deny this. On the contrary, a spokesperson said the administration’s policy is to “accommodate” oversight requests from committee chairs, “regardless of their political party.”
This, of course, is hilarious, since in a Republican-led House and Senate, every committee chair is a Republican. The quote is effectively an admission that Democratic requests for oversight information are not “accommodated” by this administration.
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/democrats-face-unprecedented-silent-treatment-trump-world