The Thursday revelation that Michael Flynn was warned he couldn't take foreign payments came to the House Oversight Committee courtesy of the Department of Defense. But the White House team that put Flynn in charge of national security still hasn't released a "single shred of paper" in relation to the committee’s investigation, says the ranking Democrat. The Hill writes:
“I honestly do not understand why the White House is covering up for Michael Flynn,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said at a joint appearance with other Democrats criticizing President Trump’s first 100 days in office.
“It makes the American people think the White House has something to hide. There is obviously a paper trail that the White House does not want our committee to follow.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer added to that cloud of suspicion Thursday when he pinned the approval of Flynn's security clearance on the Obama administration and the Department of Defense, as if team Trump bore no responsibility for vetting the guy Trump chose to head his national security team.
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said the committee is requesting documents that are not in the possession of the White House because they involved Flynn’s activity prior to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Other documents sought by the committee from after Jan. 20 involve sensitive information, he said.
In other words, you can’t see documents from before or after we hired Flynn. Cummings said Thursday that the White House is clearly "stonewalling.”
"I gotta tell you," he said, “you cannot allow situations where the Congress requests documents and basically the White House says, 'Take a hike.' That's simply unacceptable and a dangerous precedent."
It's also known as an autocracy. So much for checks and balances.