Trump vs. House Democrats: 10 upcoming clashes

(Reuters) – US President Donald Trump refuses to cooperate with numerous investigations of himself and his government in Congress, and adopts a defiant stance that may lead to a judicial battle against Democrats in the US House of Representatives .

The walls of Trump get tougher after the publication in mid-April of a report written by special advocate Robert Mueller on the Moscow intervention in the 2016 US presidential election in favor Trump and his attempts to prevent Mueller's investigation.

In most cases where Trump and his advisers refuse to cooperate, they run the legal risk of contempt for congressional and court actions that can result in fines and even a term of imprisonment. .

Trump and his fellow Republicans in Congress reject the investigations, led mainly by House Democrats, as political harassment before the US elections in 2020.

The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee is also conducting an investigation. Donald Trump Jr. has reached an agreement with this committee for his senators to interview him in mid-June, an informed source told the Congress on Tuesday.

Here are some notorious examples of Trump, who stated that he "fought all subpoenas," challenging Congress:

REVENUE RETURNS

Unlike former presidents in recent decades, Trump refuses to release his tax returns, raising questions about their content. Democrats are investigating Trump's past trading relationship and possible conflicts of interest involving him.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday challenged a subpoena from the House Tax Committee Chair, asking for six years of personal and corporate tax returns from Trump.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, Democrat Richard Neal, is empowered to call for the return of the Speaker under a law that the Secretary of the Treasury will "provide" them if such a request is made.

In a letter to Neal on Friday, Mnuchin said the Treasury, based on the advice of the Justice Ministry, would not divulge Trump's statements. "We are unable to provide the requested information in response to the committee's summons," the letter said.

MUELLER REPORT

The redacted Mueller report, published April 18 by Attorney General William Barr, left some questions about the unanswered inquiry. The Democrats have summoned the unexpurgated report and the evidence invoked by Mueller.

Barr, appointed by Trump, refused to comply with the subpoena. On May 8, the Judiciary Committee of the House recommended to the entire House to name Barr for contempt of Congress. "We are now in a constitutional crisis," Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic Chairman of the Commission, told the press.

The committee's vote took place a few hours after the White House affirmed the rarely-used principle of the executive's privilege to keep the full report on Mueller, even though Trump had previously allowed his aides to speak with Mueller during his investigation .

House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, also summoned Barr to appear before Barr for documents related to Mueller. After Barr ignored the subpoena, Schiff announced Thursday that the committee was considering taking "law enforcement measures."

SPECIAL ADVICE

Nadler's panel demanded Mueller's testimony. Sources close to the case told Reuters on Friday that it was unlikely Mueller would appear before the committee as requested on May 23.

LAWYER MCGAHN

Nadler threatened to despise former White House lawyer Don McGahn, though he did not show up to testify at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. McGahn was ordered not to produce documents in response to a subpoena to appear before a committee.

Mazars

A federal judge said Tuesday that the financial documents of Trump's long-standing accounting firm, Mazars LLP, would be "an appropriate topic for investigation" by Congress, appearing alongside Democratic lawmakers demanding increased scrutiny Of the president.

US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington has heard arguments on whether Mazars should comply with a subpoena of the House of Representatives' Oversight Committee, which is the first time that the House of Representatives has been summoned. a federal court questions the scope of the Congress in its investigations.

In an unprecedented move, Trump has taken legal action to prevent US lawmakers from obtaining its financial statements.

CENSUS AND CITIZENSHIP

The Justice Department rejected the monitoring committee's request to interview John Gore, responsible for the administration's decision to include a citizenship-related issue in the 2020 census.

ACCUSED

Trump pledged to fight against all the efforts of congressional Democrats to initiate impeachment proceedings against him, promising to go to the Supreme Court, even though it has no role in the process of constitutional destitution.

FBI HEADQUARTERS

According to congressional Democrats, the administration has responded too slowly to their requests for documents regarding Trump's abandonment of a plan to relocate the FBI headquarters.

Before becoming president, Trump was in favor of moving the headquarters to the downtown suburbs of Washington, say Democrats who are looking into the matter.

According to them, after Trump was elected and prevented from bidding to buy the current FBI site for business development, he changed jobs. Democrats have asked questions about a possible conflict of interest at Trump.

HELP WITH IMMIGRATION

The White House refused to have Trump's immigration advisor, Stephen Miller, testify before Congress, in a letter to the House Oversight Committee.

BANKING SUBPOENAS

Trump filed a lawsuit to block House's subpoenas for his financial documents sent to Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial, the banks he did business with.

A 2017 financial disclosure form indicated that Trump had at least $ 130 million in liabilities to Deutsche Bank in Germany.