This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The White House has rejected a request from three congressional committees seeking information on private conversations between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last summer.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent a letter to the Democratic chairmen of the three committees in the House of Representatives March 21.
The president “must be free to engage in discussions with foreign leaders without fear that those communications will be disclosed,” Cipollone said.
In a letter earlier this month, three committees asked details on Trump and Putin’s conversations in person and by phone.
The White House has rejected a request from Congressional Democrats for a slew of documents related to Pres. Trump’s phone calls and meetings with Vladimir Putin. https://t.co/WcIrCyOJtn
— ABC News (@ABC) March 21, 2019
They also asked for documents related to the conversations and whether Trump tried to conceal any evidence of them. And they asked for an interview with the interpreter who was present at the meeting.
Since Democrats won control of the House in November elections, they have become increasingly assertive in investigating the Trump White House.
At the July Helsinki meeting, Trump stunned many Republican and Democratic congressional lawmakers when he contradicted the findings of the U.S. intelligence community about Russia’s meddling in U.S. political affairs.
In a later post to Twitter, he also called the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller “rigged witch hunt.”
