White House refuses Democrats' demands for information on Trump's role in blocking AT & T mergers

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Democrats Jerry Nadler, of New York, and David Cicilline, of Rhode Island, sent a letter last month asking for information following a report in the New Yorker that Trump would have asked his economic adviser , Gary Cohn, to block the $ 85 billion. merger.

Nadler and Cicilline claimed that the White House's interference in the enforcement of antitrust laws was "unacceptable" and resembled the situation in the Nixon administration, insofar as they had requested communications between Trump and senior White House officials about the merger.

But the White House sent a letter dated Monday to Democrats rejecting the request, saying that "strong protections of confidentiality are essential to the proper functioning of the presidency".

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"However, we can not provide the Committee with secure communications between the president and his most eminent advisers, who are at the heart of the executive's confidentiality interests," White House lawyer Pat Cipollone said in his letter.

The merger was unanimously approved by a panel of three judges after the Ministry of Justice appealed a decision of a lower court judge refusing the government's attempt to block. Time Warner has since been renamed WarnerMedia, which also includes networks such as TNT and HBO, in addition to CNN.

This is just the latest of the ever-growing list of struggles between Democrats in the House and the Trump administration, which has rejected many applications for registration that could lead to legal battles to test the scope of Congressional oversight of the executive power.
The White House also rejected several applications for registration from its president, Elijah Cummings, who in some cases issued subpoenas. One of these subpoenas was issued Monday to an accounting firm that has prepared several financial statements of Trump, Mazars USA. The firm had requested the move, a so-called "subpoena," before providing the committee's records.

Trump's personal attorneys sent Mazars a letter stating that the company should not comply with the subpoena.

In addition, Cummings issued subpoenas relating to White House security clearance investigations and a citizenship question in the US Census, which he felt were necessary because of the walls of the House. white.

The Judiciary Committee of the House is also preparing for a confrontation with the White House about documents. Authorized subpoenas for five former White House officials linked to documents that, according to the Democratic members of the committee, should not be subject to the privilege of the executive.

CNN's Jeremy Herb contributed to this report.

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