White House Subpoenaed
The Senate Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed the White House, the vice president’s office and the Justice Department, setting up a potential constitutional conflict.
The committee seeks documents to learn more about the legal justification for the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program as well as the telecommunications companies that aided the NSA effort, the New York Times reports.
Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said at a news conference that the administration has shown a “consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection” in responding to requests for information.
A White House spokesman promised an appropriate response to the subpoenas and added it was unfortunate that Democrats are choosing “the route of confrontation.”
Leahy also asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Brett Kavanaugh made false statements during his confirmation hearing for a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Washington Post reports.
Leahy told the committee he was not involved in formulating rules governing the detention of enemy combatants when he was an associate White House counsel.
A spokesman for the D.C. Circuit said Kavanaugh’s statements were accurate.
