The White House said on Wednesday it had refused to cooperate with a House committee on the Russian inquiry, accusing the Democrats of seeking a "mock trial" of President Donald Trump.
White House lawyer Pat Seabolon sent an answer to Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Justice Committee, in which the President rejected the committee´s request for documents and statements related to the Russian investigation.
In his letter, the lawyer said that the commission was not entitled to "harass its political opponents" or "without permission to reinstate" the investigation now carried out by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.
A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Nadler´s demands were "nothing more than harassment of the president" and "a kind of mock trial." For the White House, most of the Commission´s requests cover the work of the Special Prosecutor.
Nadler accused Trump of wanting to crown himself a king, which was denied by the White House.
The investigation into possible complicity between Moscow and the Donald Trump campaign team was "conducted in an exemplary manner" and "the problem is that (Nadler) does not like the conclusion of the investigation," a senior US presidential official said.
Trump said Mr Mueller´s report had cleared him of complicity with Russia, but Democrats wanted to investigate whether the Republican president really sought to disrupt justice.
In his report, Müller spoke of 10 cases in which Trump sought to prevent the investigation from being completed, but the Special Prosecutor did not reach a conclusion as to whether the President had committed a crime to obstruct justice.
But Attorney General Bill Barr, in a four-page summary of the report delivered to Congress on March 24, said the evidence was insufficient to accuse the president of obstructing justice.
The House Justice Committee intends to question Muller about what he said in his report on obstruction of justice.
