Trump, allies pursuing path of most resistance; Stonewalling is the strategy on over 20 probes by Dems

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump and his allies are working to block more than 20 separate investigations by Democrats into his actions as president, his personal finances and his administration's policies, according to a Washington Post analysis, amounting to what many experts call the most expansive White House obstruction effort in decades.

Trump's noncooperation strategy has shifted from partial resistance to all-out war as he faces mounting inquiries from the Democratic-controlled House - a strategy many legal and congressional experts fear could undermine the institutional power of Congress for years to come.

All told, House Democrats say the Trump administration has failed to respond to or comply with at least 79 requests for documents or other information.

The president is blocking aides from testifying, refusing entire document requests from some committees, filing lawsuits against corporations to bar them from responding to subpoenas and asserting executive privilege to keep information about the special counsel's Russia investigation from public view. One such case will come to a head in court Tuesday, when a federal judge is expected to rule on whether Trump can quash a House Oversight Committee subpoena demanding financial records from his personal accounting firm.

The administration also faces another subpoena deadline Friday for Trump's tax returns following the administration's move to refuse access to them.

Kerry Kircher, who served as House counsel for the last GOP majority, said the standoff marks "a complete breakdown and complete obstruction of Congress' role."

"If the court signs off on this stuff, then we'll have an imperial presidency," Kircher said, adding: "We'll have a presidency that will be largely unchecked."

Trump's block-everything strategy stands in contrast to the White House approach to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, when Trump allowed his aides to speak to the special counsel and even turned over documents.

Trump and his allies view the array of probes by Democrats as overreaching political attacks aimed at undermining his presidency and his reelection effort.

But Democrats say their probes are part of legitimate congressional oversight - spanning issues such as the hurricane-recovery effort in Puerto Rico, the administration's abandoned family-separation policy at the southern border and Trump's attempt to build a border wall without congressional approval.

Meanwhile, Democrats are also examining dozens of actions involving administration policies rather than Trump himself. The Energy and Commerce Committee, for instance, has sent out more than 30 oversight requests to agencies that are responsible for health, environment and consumer protection issues, with varying levels of response.

Congress and the executive branch have always had a tense relationship, especially when the opposition party controls the House or Senate. When President Barack Obama was in the White House, House Republicans held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over documents pertaining to the "Fast and Furious" gunrunning case in the Justice Department.

The Obama administration begrudgingly cooperated with several Republican investigations that the Democratic president's allies viewed as politically motivated. The House Oversight Committee conducted private interviews with several IRS officials amid allegations that the tax agency was targeting tea party groups for scrutiny. And some of Obama's top White House aides sat for closed-door depositions as part of the GOP's years-long Benghazi investigation.

Trump's approach toward House Democrats' investigations, experts say, is different because of the number of investigations he is choosing to ignore or actively resist.

Trump and the White House recently blocked three major inquiries - rebuffing requests for his tax returns, refusing to turn over an unredacted version of Mueller's final report on Russian interference and barring former White House counsel Donald McGahn from responding to a Hill subpoena.

Last Wednesday, the president also asserted executive privilege for the first time over the entire Mueller report, though much of it has been released to the public.

Democrats say they need to view the underlying evidence gathered over the course of nearly two years by Mueller to reach their own conclusion on whether Trump may have obstructed justice in the probe.

Credit: By Rachael Bade; Seung Min Kim - The Washington Post

Caption: House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., left, issued subpoenas last week for six years of President Donald Trump's tax returns.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP