Crisis looms as Donald Trump steps up feud with Democrats

WASHINGTON: An epic confrontation is brewing between the White House and the Congress, conceived by America’s founding fathers as co-equal branches of the US government.
President Donald Trump is asking his current and former aides to ignore requests and subpoenas from US lawmakers, challenging the long-cherished American legislative tradition of oversight, saying he will not succumb to a political “witchhunt” by Democrats but which legislators say is part of their legitimate powers accorded by the US Constitution.
Contentious issues range from House Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas to former White House counsel Don McGahn aimed at eliciting more information on the alleged obstruction of justice effort by the President in course of the Mueller probe into Russian interference in US election, to lawmakers’ effort to lay their hands on Trump’s tax returns and other financial information. The Trump White House is resisting every line of inquiry by the Democrat-majority House, arguing that the President has been vindicated not only by the electorate but also by investigations – both questionable premises.
The matter is certain to head to the Supreme Court, which, stacked with two new Trump nominees, is now Conservative-leaning. While the White House has often invoked executive privilege in the past, a Supreme Court imprimatur in this matter will virtually ensure an imperial presidency, sidelining or diminishing powers of the Congress.
In exhaustive Twitter rants over the past 48 hours, Trump made the argument that he had been vindicated in the Mueller report, a claim contested by Democrats, who say it actually implicates him and kicks the can over to Congress for further action.
“The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the President raged on Wednesday, claiming, “Not only are there no “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” there are no Crimes by me at all.”

“All of the Crimes were committed by Crooked Hillary, the Dems, the DNC and Dirty Cops – and we caught them in the act! We waited for Mueller and WON, so now the Dems look to Congress as last hope!” he added.

Not so fast, say Democrats, arguing that the Mueller report explicitly says it does not exonerate him, and Congress is well within its rights to investigate further.
Republican lawmakers, on their part, have virtually abdicated their oversight role, folding under a Trump aura which threatens their seat in Congress should they go against him. The divisions in Congress are deep and partisan to an unprecedented degree.
The US President is now using Twitter as a bully pulpit to hector Congress and carry his argument directly to the people, by passing even his own media and communications’ team. In fact, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has not held a briefing for a record 43 days, as Trump himself has picked up cudgels against the liberal media, spending inordinate amounts of time tweeting and retweeting lawmakers and right-wing media figures who support him.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction – there has NEVER been a President who has been more transparent. Millions of pages of documents were given to the Mueller Angry Dems, plus I allowed everyone to testify, including W.H. counsel. I didn’t have to do this, but now they want more… Congress has no time to legislate, they only want to continue the Witch Hunt, which I have already won. They should start looking at The Criminals who are already very well known to all. This was a Rigged System – WE WILL DRAIN THE SWAMP!” Trump raged in one of his many Twitter outbursts over the past 48 hours.

The Republican White House v Democrat Congress spat came even as it was revealed that Trump is so sensitive to reports that Russia interfered in the US elections that aides are afraid to raise the matter before him even though the issues remains a concerns in future elections. He sees it as questioning the legitimacy of his own election.
Trump also reportedly sparred with Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey in a White House meeting on Tuesday, complaining that the platform was discriminating against Conservative voices and he was not adding as many followers as he should. He also needled a Washington Post reporter who he phoned to lay out his case for executive privilege.
“I didn’t call Bob Costa of the Washington Post, he called me (Returned his call)! Just more Fake News,” the President of the United States tweeted on Wednesday morning. “Yes, I noted this last night, before the interview posted,” Costa responded.