Oversight Releases Resolution Rejecting White House Claim of Immunity for Political Office Director David Simas
Statement
Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) released a resolution the Oversight Committee will consider on Friday if White House political office Director David Simas declines the Committee's extraordinary accommodation--a second chance to testify at a hearing he had been subpoenaed to attend last week. Chairman Issa made the second chance offer in a letter last week to White House Counsel W. Neil Eggleston, in order to avoid a constitutional clash over subpoeaned testimony by allowing Mr. Simas to appear tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. If Mr. Simas fails to appear the resolution would find that his refusal "is contrary to well-established law and amounts to contumacious conduct" and reject the White House contention that Mr. Simas is immune from congressional compulsion to testify on matters relating to his official duties. The letter follows known violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of government funds for political campaigning, by two Members of President Obama's cabinet; the President's closure of a political office deemed illegal in 2011; and his decision to reopen it under Mr. Simas' leadership in 2014.
Chairman Issa made the following statement on the release of the resolution:
"I urge Mr. Simas to appear, but the White House has offered us no indication that it intends to accept our offer. What are they afraid of? The Director of the political office in the Bush Administration testified before this Committee, we know that there have been high-level Hatch Act violations under President Obama, and a federal judge has already rejected claims that an official like Mr. Simas enjoys a special immunity above and beyond Executive privilege. I expect our Committee will reject President Obama's assertion that his White House should be afforded special treatment that House Democrats did not extend to Republican Administrations when they were in the majority."
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