Stephen Miller will not testify before the Congress on Immigration Policies, according to the White House

April 25, 2019, 20:49 UTC

By Rebecca Shabad

WASHINGTON – The White House refuses the request of the Chair of the House Oversight Committee and the government's reform that senior advisor Stephen Miller testifies to the administration's contentious actions in immigration matters .

"The precedent for White House staff refusing to appear before congressional committees has been consistently respected by the administrations of both political parties and is based on clearly established constitutional doctrines," writes a Letter to Pat Cipollone's lawyer, from Wednesday. the chairman of the committee, the representative Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

Cipollone referred to a letter that Robert Bauer, a White House lawyer to President Barack Obama, sent in 2011 to Darrell Issa, president of the Oversight Observatory, which said: "Staff members of the White House do not usually testify before Congress. "

He also referred to a letter sent to the Congress in 1980 by the then White House Council, Lloyd Cutler, in which it was said: "Congress has always respected the privilege of the President to refuse requests for appearance of the president himself or his immediate advisers at the White House. testify before congressional committees. "

Cipollone has, however, written that the testimony of those in charge of the executive "would be a reasonable accommodation of the Committee's legislative issues and objectives".

Last week, Cummings sent a letter to Miller asking him to testify before his committee about President Donald Trump's immigration program, including the "zero tolerance" policy that had led to the separation of families from the border, a proposal for bus asylum seekers to cities sanctuaries. upheaval at the Department of Homeland Security.

After receiving Cipollone's response, Cummings, accompanied by the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., And the Chair of the Judiciary Committee of the House, Jerrold Nadler, DN.Y. , wrote Kevin McAleenan, acting director of the Department of Homeland Security, on Thursday, looking for documents related to Trump's recent withdrawal of senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security.

Earlier this month, Trump announced that Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other department heads were leaving their positions. An article in The Washington Post said that Trump wanted to go into a "tougher direction" in matters of immigration control and would give Miller more influence over immigration. and border problems.

"We are deeply concerned about the dismissal and forced resignation of these officials who endanger the security of the American people," wrote the Democratic presidents. "We are also concerned that the president may have fired DHS officials because they refused to violate the federal law on immigration and court orders. In addition, we are concerned by reports that even though he had dismissed the direction of the Department, the President had sought to entrust White House collaborator Stephen Miller with the power to "manage all matters relating to to immigration and borders ". "

In an interview with the Post on Tuesday, Trump said he was opposed to current and former White House representatives testifying before congressional committees following the report of special advocate Robert Mueller. , highlighting the confrontation between his administration and the Democrats of the House while they were investigating the findings of the investigation. The report.

"There is no reason to go further, especially in Congress, where he is very partisan – obviously very partisan," Trump told the paper.