What you do when you're running the most scandal-ridden and corrupt administration in modern American history? Totally ignore the federal government's ethics watchdog. In two letters released this week, Democratic lawmakers revealed the White House counsel's office has routinely dodged inquiries from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the past year and they want to know why. Politico writes:
The lawmakers, led by ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), asked [Oversight Committee] Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to hold a hearing to shed light on “why the Trump Administration has so severely reversed course to deny GAO access to information it has obtained for years.” [...]
[GAO general counsel Thomas] Armstrong wrote in his letter to McGahn that the White House's refusal to comply with the watchdog's requests "represents a clear departure from past practice.”
He said the GAO has sought information on the cost of presidential travel and security measures, vacancies in the office of the inspector general and the role of the NSC in conflict-prevention efforts abroad. He said staff “have either refused to have any discussion … or not responded at all.”
In their letter to Gowdy, Democrats urged an "immediate hearing" to get testimony from White House counsel Don McGahn on their "dramatic decision" to obstruct investigations by the GAO.
The Committee must act to swiftly determine who instructed White House staff to refuse to provide information to GAO, as well as to evaluate the justification for this decision and its potential to impair Congress from fulfilling its Constitutional oversight responsibilities.
Gowdy, suffering from sudden onset of retirement syndrome, has been unusually prone to honesty of late. But a Republican actually conducting oversight of the White House might just be a bridge too far.