- Retaliating Against Employees Who Provide Information to Congress: Employees who speak to Congress have the right not to have adverse personnel actions taken against them. Retaliatory actions taken against Executive Branch employees who cooperate with Congress may constitute violations of this law.19 Any Executive Branch official who "prohibits or prevents" or "attempts or threatens to prohibit or prevent" any officer or employee of the federal government from speaking with Congress could have his or her salary withheld.20
Precedent of Previous Impeachments and Other Investigations
Unlike President Trump, past Presidents who were the subject of impeachment inquiries—including Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—acknowledged Congress' authority to investigate and, to varying degrees, complied with information requests and subpoenas.
For example, President Johnson complied with the House's requests for information. According to a report subsequently adopted by the House Judiciary Committee, "There is no evidence that Johnson ever asserted any privilege to prevent disclosure of presidential conversations to the Committee, or failed to comply with any of the Committee's requests."21 Similarly, President Clinton provided written responses to 81 interrogatories from the House Judiciary Committee during the House's impeachment inquiry.22
Even President Nixon agreed to let his staff testify voluntarily in the Senate Watergate investigation, stating: "All members of the White House Staff will appear voluntarily when requested by the committee. They will testify under oath, and they will answer fully all proper questions."23 As a result, numerous senior White House officials testified, including White House Counsel John Dean III, White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, Deputy Assistant to the President Alexander Butterfield, and Chief Advisor to the President for Domestic Affairs John D. Ehrlichman.24 President Nixon also produced numerous documents and records in response to the House's subpoenas as part of its impeachment inquiry, including more than 30 transcripts of White House recordings and notes from meetings with the President.25
However, President Nixon's production of documents was incomplete. For example, he did not produce tape recordings, and transcripts he produced were heavily edited or inaccurate. President Nixon claimed that his noncompliance with House subpoenas was necessary to protect the confidentiality of Presidential conversations, but the House Judiciary Committee rejected these arguments and approved an article of impeachment for obstruction of the House's impeachment inquiry.26
In a letter to President Nixon, Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino explained that it would upend the separation of powers to allow the President to dictate the scope of an impeachment inquiry:
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