Issa launches probe of White House for "potentially illegal" political activities

By

Lucy Madison

 

 

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California Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

(Credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

 

 

The House Oversight Committee is investigating a possible overlap between President Obama's official and political activities. In a Monday letter to White House lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, Darrell Issa, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, requests a number of documents related to what he describes as "an array of potentially illegal fundraising behavior." The primary concerns as expressed in the letter include a March meeting at the White House between Mr. Obama, several DNC officials, and several donors to the president's re-election campaign, as well as the decision to film a campaign video in the White House. Additionally, the letter questions what Issa describes as Mr. Obama's "aggressively using the White House itself and federal employees within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to solicit donations." "Putting aside the negative impact that these fundraising tactics will have on the stature of the presidency generally, some of these tactics may also violate federal law," the letter reads. A White House official strongly disputes the impropriety of the events in question, however, and argues that the actions in question are routine among sitting presidents. "As we have said in the past, these activities were wholly appropriate and routinely done in past Administrations, as evidence by the scores of examples spanning the past three decades," a White House official told Hotsheet. "In fact, experts and lawyers have all said publicly that all of what the Obama team is doing is above board." Regardless, a spokesman for the House Oversight Committee said the Obama administration had a "clear obligation" to answer the committee's questions, particularly in regard to the March meeting. "The involvement of the DNC at a White House event that used public resources raises certain questions," said spokesman Frederick Hill. "The White House has a clear obligation in this matter to explain and document the real purpose of the event, why the DNC was involved, and the reason for the use of resources paid for by taxpayers to support a DNC event." Issa has requested that documents and communications related to the events in question be turned over by July 26.   

 

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