Documents: House Request for Trump-Putin Meeting Information and White House Response

Mikhaila Fogel
Thursday, March 21, 2019, 2:56 PM

On March 4, the chairmen of the House committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform sent a request to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney for information regarding a Washington Post report that President Trump sought to conceal notes of interpreters and linguists following meetings with Russian Presi

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On March 4, the chairmen of the House committees on Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform sent a request to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney for information regarding a Washington Post report that President Trump sought to conceal notes of interpreters and linguists following meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The committee chairmen write that destroying the notes would be a violation of the Presidential Records Act.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone responded on March 21, refusing the request. He stated that there was no legal authority requiring the president to turn over "diplomatic communications with foreign leaders" or "confidential internal deliberations of the president’s national security advisors."

Both letters are available below.

Committee Leaders' Letter to White House

White House Counsel Response

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Mikhaila Fogel

Mikhaila Fogel

@MikhailaRFogel
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Mikhaila Fogel was an associate editor at Lawfare and a research analyst at the Brookings Institution. She previously worked as a legislative correspondent for national security and foreign affairs issues in the Office of Sen. Susan Collins. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where she majored in history and literature and minored in government and Arabic.

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