In the News

Today, during a business meeting of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Republican Committee Members blocked all consideration of requests to debate and vote on 13 motions for subpoenas for critical documents that are currently being withheld by the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC), and many others.

“Thirteen more subpoena requests have now gone unanswered,” Connolly said. “What are House Republicans afraid we will find? Have they lost their subpoena pen?”

“Disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to federal crimes. Jared Kushner committed more than 100 errors and omissions on his security clearance application. Fortunate for these two, House Republicans are here to protect them at all costs – reputations and institutional duty be damned,” Connolly added. “Our Committee has a responsibility to the American public to provide oversight of the executive branch. Instead, the majority has become the administration’s top protector and leading obstructionist on everything from Russian interference, Trump’s rampant conflicts of interest, to obvious violations of the Emoluments Clause. Oversight shouldn’t be a partisan practice.”

On Friday, Rep. Elijah. E. Cummings and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the Ranking Member and Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter requesting that Chairman Trey Gowdy place 13 motions for subpoenas on the agenda for today’s business meeting.

For each request, Cummings, Connolly, and other Committee Members previously sent Gowdy detailed letters setting forth the specific bases for the motions, but Gowdy declined to join these requests or issue subpoenas on his own. They include a wide range of oversight requests within the core jurisdiction of the Committee—many of which had been bipartisan. House rules allow Committees to debate and vote on motions to issue subpoenas if a majority of Committee Members approve, but Gowdy has declined or ignored all requests to obtain these documents.

Cummings sent Gowdy a similar request on October 31, 2017, asking for six motions for subpoenas to be added to the agenda for the business meeting the Committee held on November 2, 2017—all of which were also denied.


The motions relate to the following investigations in which documents that are currently being withheld:

• Trump Organization Withholding Documents on Foreign Payments

• DHS Withholding Documents on Russian Attacks Against States Before Election

• DHS Withholding Information from IG Report on Trump Muslim Ban

• White House and HHS Withholding Documents on Biased Refugee Report

• HHS Withholding Documents on Gag Order Against Whistleblowers

• Kushner Withholding Emails That Violate Presidential Records Act

• White House Withholding Documents on Security Clearance Suspensions

• Transition Team and DOJ Withholding Flynn, Jr.’s Security Clearance Documents

• White House Withholding Documents on Interim Security Clearances

• Flynn and Business Partners Withholding Documents on Middle East Nuclear Deal

• Data Firms Withholding Documents on Foreign Contacts During Election

• OMB Withholding Agency Downsizing Plans

• FDIC Withholding Documents on EPA Senior Advisor Banned from Banking


The six previous subpoena motions that were denied at the Committee’s November 2, 2017, business meeting were:

• White House Withholding Documents on Flynn’s Foreign Contacts

• White House Withholding Documents on Personal Email Use by Top Aides

• Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Withholding Documents on Emails

• White House Withholding Documents on Hurricane Response

• Governor Snyder Withholding Documents on Flint Water Investigation

• Kushner Companies Withholding Documents on Alleged Housing Abuses