April 18, 2017
Donald McGahn II
White House Counsel
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. McGahn,
We appreciate that you issued and released an initial policy restricting certain contacts
between the White House and Department of Justice that could undermine the
evenhanded application of the law. We write, however, to urge you to go beyond that
and issue a robust policy imposing similar restrictions on White House staff contacts with
other agencies regarding matters involving specific parties (an “Agency Contacts
Policy”) in line with longstanding precedents from both Democratic and Republican
Administrations, and to vigorously enforce such policies.
Evenhanded treatment under the law is a bedrock principle of our democracy. It is for
this reason that White Houses of both parties have prohibited White House staff from
engaging in contacts with agency officials in ways that either interfere with the impartial
application of agency actions involving specific parties or create the appearance of
improper interference. Such policies encourage the proper coordination between the
White House and agencies on policy, personnel, communications and other matters of
general applicability, but prevent improper interference in matters involving specific
parties by restricting contacts regarding individual enforcement, investigatory,
adjudicatory, grant-making or contracting decisions.
These policies help maintain public trust in the evenhanded application of our laws. It
would be deeply troubling, for example, if the President’s political advisors in the West
Wing could email Customs and Border Protection or the Transportation Security
Administration to ask them to search a particular individual’s laptop at an airport because
that individual had been critical of the Administration; or could ask the Department of
Health and Human Services to stand down from investigating an executive for health
care fraud because that individual contributed to a political campaign.

2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #163, Washington, D.C. 20006
info@protectdemocracy.org

 Because of the importance of avoiding political meddling in legal matters involving
specific parties, our organization issued a memorandum on March 8, 2017 laying out the
history of White House Agency Contacts Policies and practice, and we have attached a
copy of that memo here. At the time, we encouraged members of the media to ask the
White House if it had such a policy already in place. We were pleased when, in
response, the White House released your memo of January 27, 2017 entitled
Communications Restrictions with Personnel at the Department of Justice.
That memo is not sufficient to achieve the goals outlined above, however. First, it is
incomplete. It covers only certain communications between the White House and the
Department of Justice (“DOJ”), whereas prior policies have covered the full range of law
enforcement and other specific party matters that are routinely handled by many federal
agencies. Second, a policy alone, without appropriate training and enforcement, is
merely words on paper. A number of troubling news reports suggest that more training
and enforcement is necessary to make such a policy effective.
Protecting the Impartiality of Specific Party Matters Across the Federal
Government
The American people depend on our government to handle a vast range of matters
involving specific parties – whether law enforcement, a government contract, a
regulatory waiver, a grant, or a benefit determination – equally as to all parties,
regardless of those parties’ size, influence, or political connections.
With respect to law enforcement matters, the Justice Department is just one of many
federal agencies with law enforcement responsibilities. For example, the Department of
Homeland Security is home to several major law enforcement agencies, as are several
other Departments: the Department of the Interior houses the U.S. Park Police; the
Treasury Department is home to the IRS Criminal Investigative Division; and many
Departments have Offices of the Inspector General that carry out law enforcement
functions. The White House must have in place a policy regulating contacts with all of
these agencies, just as it does with DOJ. White House staff should follow the same
strictures with respect to civil and criminal investigative and enforcement functions at all
federal governmental agencies, departments, boards and commissions, as you have
instructed vis-à-vis the Department of Justice.
In addition, law enforcement actions are not the only governmental functions that should
be carried out free of political interference from the White House. As agency contacts
policies of prior White Houses reflect, it is not acceptable to permit White House
officials to interfere in other types of agency actions affecting specific parties. The
American people must have confidence that agency decisions regarding particular
procurement contracts, grants, benefit awards, regulatory waivers, cooperative
agreements, and other such matters should be carried out on the merits and free of
improper political interference.

2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #163, Washington, D.C. 20006
info@protectdemocracy.org

 Federal laws require, in nearly all cases, open and competitive bidding or merit-based
processes to govern the awarding of contracts and grants. For those laws to operate
effectively and with integrity, and avoid the appearance of improper influence in such
decisions, any White House staff seeking to communicate with an agency about specific
matters should first seek the guidance of the White House Counsel’s office as to whether
to make the contact, and if so, who should do so and within what guardrails. Without
appropriate limitations, the conduct of White House staff in initiating contacts about
specific procurement contracts or grants could create the impression of rewarding
political allies or punishing detractors.
The same holds for eligibility determinations for benefits, regulatory waivers, and other
adjudicative matters involving specific parties. Our country’s foundational principles of
due process and equal treatment under the law require as much. And the President’s
Article II obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” cannot
countenance allowing political advisors to inject non-merit-based considerations into
these types of actions. As such, any meaningful agency contacts policy must apply
across the government to the full range of governmental actions affecting specific
parties.
Likewise, the rationale for applying a contacts policy is particularly weighty for
independent agencies – such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal
Communications Commission, and Federal Trade Commission. These independent
agencies are distinct from Cabinet agencies in their constitutional status, statutory basis,
and/or authority, and thus demand different treatment by White House staff in order to
abide by their requirements. Some have statutory requirements regarding rulemaking, as
well as disclosure requirements on contacts about certain policy matters. Thus, a proper
White House Agency Contacts Policy should take these factors into account regarding
contacts with independent agencies.
We strongly urge you to issue a full contacts policy covering all of the above contacts
and concerns. Failing to institute a robust policy would retreat from bipartisan precedent,
and, send the wrong message about the value of integrity and impartiality in our
government’s law enforcement and other functions.
Ensuring Compliance with Contacts Policies
Moreover, it is incumbent upon your office to notify, train, and enforce these contacts
policies across the extensive staff of the West Wing and the full Executive Office of the
President. Already, several situations have reportedly transpired in which it appears that
the White House has engaged in contacts with the Department of Justice that may have
violated the current Communications Restrictions memo, as well as forty years of
accepted policies limiting White House contacts with DOJ. White House Senior Policy
Adviser Stephen Miller, who is not part of the Counsel’s office, reportedly called the
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York at his home to direct the argument for
defending the travel ban. The White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus may have
violated the policy by seeking the FBI’s assistance to attempt to refute news reports of
2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #163, Washington, D.C. 20006
info@protectdemocracy.org

 communications between Russian intelligence and Trump campaign advisors. Also, the
President placed a call to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet
Bharara, who declined to return that call on the advice of DOJ leadership because of its
apparent impropriety under DOJ’s contacts policy. Finally, questions arose when it was
reported that you attempted to access a surveillance order on Mr. Trump and others
issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, though a White House official
later attempted to recharacterize that effort.
In another situation, we raised concerns that without a proper policy and training in
place, another violation could have easily arisen after the CEO of Anthem, Inc., a
company currently in litigation with DOJ, was granted an audience with the
President. Anthem had previously told the court it believed it could resolve its case
“with a new DOJ,” presumably meaning it believed it could get the new Administration
to reverse DOJ’s litigating position in this case. Given the President’s questionable call
to Mr. Bharara, we expressed concerns he might similarly try to call DOJ about the
Anthem case after speaking with its CEO if not properly trained and counseled on the
contacts policy.
Taken together, the White House’s conduct in these situations, at best, raises questions
about the White House staff’s awareness of their obligations under the policy. When a
reporter asked White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer about whether it was
appropriate for a White House official to call the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights
Division, he did not appear to know about the restrictions on White House staff and
instead twice referred the reporter to the Department of Justice for its policy without any
reference to a White House policy.
These repeated high-profile circumstances where senior staff appear to violate decadesold practice by making improper contacts with the Department of Justice begin to look
like a pattern of malfeasance. Moreover, when they go unaddressed by your office or the
President, they send a signal to others that these policies need not be followed and
undermine public trust that all people are treated equally under the law.
We urge you to build on your January 27 memo to staff by: establishing a complete
contacts policy as prior Administrations have; issuing it to the public as you did with
your prior memo so the American people can have confidence in the impartial and
evenhanded execution of the law; and setting forth a plan to ensure compliance with it.

Sincerely,

Allison F. Murphy
Counsel

2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #163, Washington, D.C. 20006
info@protectdemocracy.org

 Enc.: United to Protect Democracy Agency Contacts Memo

2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW, #163, Washington, D.C. 20006
info@protectdemocracy.org

 Date

March 8, 2017

To

Interested Parties

From United to Protect Democracy

White House Communications with the DOJ and FBI
The promise that every American will be treated equally under the law and that none is
above the law is a bedrock principle of American democracy. The freedom from political
influence — real or perceived — on law enforcement underpins all of our other freedoms. By
contrast, political influence or interference in law enforcement has been a clear hallmark
distinguishing authoritarian regimes from true democracies around the globe.1
For decades, to prevent even the appearance of political meddling in federal law
enforcement, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have had written policies
governing White House contacts with agencies and offices within the executive branch that have
investigatory and enforcement responsibilities. To ensure the impartial application of the laws,
these policies have extended to White House contacts with any executive branch agency or office
regarding investigations, enforcement actions, regulatory decisions, grants and contracts
involving specific parties.
To date, the Trump Administration has not articulated publicly a White House policy on
agency contacts. Further, multiple reported contacts between senior political staff at the White
House and enforcement officers at the Department of Justice (DOJ) appear to have violated forty
years of accepted, bipartisan policy. In light of the questions that its actions have raised, and in
order to demonstrate its commitment to upholding the rule of law, the Trump White House must
release and abide by an agency contacts policy that is consistent with accepted, bipartisan norms.
Background on Trump White House Contacts with DOJ
1

See, e.g., Azul América Aguilar Aguilar, Institutional Changes in the Public Prosecutor's Office: The Cases of

 In recent weeks, a number of reports have raised questions regarding whether the White
House has in place and is abiding by an agency contacts policy like ones that have governed
White House agency contacts for the past forty years in both Democratic and Republican
administrations. This past weekend, The New York Times reported that White House Counsel
Donald McGahn “was working to secure access to what Mr. McGahn believed to be an order
issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing some form of surveillance
related to Mr. Trump and his associates.”2 (The White House later attempted to walk back
claims of such an effort). Last month, multiple publications reported that the White House asked
the FBI to refute reports that Trump campaign advisors had contacts with Russia during the
presidential campaign.3 A week prior to that, the New York Daily News reported that White
House senior Adviser Stephen Miller, who is not a lawyer, called the home of Robert Capers, the
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, to dictate how he should defend the
Administration’s travel ban.4
The Longstanding Bipartisan Policy Limiting White House Contacts with DOJ
There is a long-standing and bipartisan belief that the laws of the United States should be
administered and enforced in an impartial manner and, accordingly, that there should not be an
appearance that politics plays any part in the Department of Justice’s investigative and
enforcement operations.5 This is because the effectiveness of the Department of Justice rests on
2

Michael D. Shear and Michael S. Schmidt, Trump, Offering no Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones, N.Y.
Times (March 4, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/us/politics/trump-obama-tap-phones.html?_r=0.

3

See, e.g., Brian Naylor, White House Asked FBI To Publicly Refute Reports Trump Associates Had Russia
Contacts, NPR (Feb. 24, 2017), http://www.npr.org/2017/02/24/517011779/white-house-asked-fbi-to-publiclyrefute-reports-trump-associates-had-russia-con; Spencer Ackerman, White House confirms conversation with FBI
about Trump and Russia, The Guardian (Feb. 24, 2017), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/24/donaldtrump-russia-reince-priebus-fbi-talks-james-comey; Massimo Calabresi, The FBI Talked to the White House About
Its Russia Probe. That Was Probably Against the Rules, Time (Feb. 25, 2017), http://time.com/4682791/fbi-russiareince-priebus-andrew-mccabe-justice-rules/.

4

Harry Siegel, Stephen Miller Called Brooklyn U.S. Attorney At Home and Told Him How To Defend Travel Ban in
Court, NY Daily News (Feb. 18, 2017), http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/stephen-miller-called-u-s-attorneytravel-ban-defense-article-1.2975873.

5

See, e.g., Address by Attorney General Griffin B. Bell to Department of Justice Lawyers, Sept. 6, 1978, available
at https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2011/08/23/09-06-1978b.pdf (“in our form of government,
there are things that are non-partisan, and one is the law and one is foreign intelligence”) (“Bell Address”); Lara
jakes Jordan, Mukasey to Restrict Case Discussions, Washington Post (Dec. 19, 2007),
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/19/ AR2007051900015.html (citing memorandum
by Attorney General explained that limiting contacts with the White House is essential to “ensuring that there is
public confidence that the laws of the United States are administered and enforced in an impartial manner”);
Political Activities, Dep’t of Justice, https://www.justice.gov/jmd/political-activities (last visited Mar. 1, 2017)
(political activities of DOJ staff are curtailed in order “to ensure there is not an appearance that politics plays any

2

 the public’s confidence — and the reality — that DOJ is above ideology and partisanship in its
enforcement of the law.6
The need for the Department of Justice to be insulated from the reality and the
appearance of politics is reinforced in federal law. The Hatch Act places restrictions on the
political participation of government employees in certain agencies where it is particularly
important that there is no appearance of politicization, like the military and intelligence
agencies.7 These restrictions apply to career and political appointees in the Department of
Justice and FBI.
Stemming from this basic principle that the investigative and prosecutorial powers of the
DOJ should be free of partisan influence, it has been consistent policy for forty years to limit
communications between the White House and the DOJ, including the FBI.8
First, it has been consistent policy that communications between the White House and
DOJ about any ongoing case, investigation, or adjudicative matter should take place only when
necessary for the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties and appropriate from a law
enforcement perspective.9 For example, the White House Counsel might discuss a pending
Supreme Court case with the Solicitor General, request a formal legal opinion from the Office of
Legal Counsel, or discuss clemency matters with the Pardon Attorney. Similarly, on national
security matters, it is expected that the FBI will be in regular contact with the National Security
Advisor and his staff on matters of national security, which could include information about
ongoing investigations.

part in the Department’s day to day operations.”).
6

See, e.g., U.S. Attorney’s Manual § 3-2.140 (a U.S. Attorney’s “professional abilities and the need for their
impartiality in administering justice directly affect the public’s perception of federal law enforcement.”);
Politicization of Department of Justice, Center for Public Integrity (last updated May 19, 2014),
https://www.publicintegrity.org/2008/12/10/6285/politicization-department-justice.

7

See 5 U.S.C § 7323.

8

See Bell Address (implementing the policy in 1978). See also Massimo Calabresi, The FBI Talked to the White
House About Its Russia Probe. That Was Probably Against the Rules, Time, Feb. 25, 2017,
http://time.com/4682791/fbi-russia-reince-priebus-andrew-mccabe-justice-rules/ (reporting that these rules date back
at least to the Carter Administration); Isaac Arnsdorf, Priebus request to FBI violated norms, if not rules;
Longstanding White House and DOJ policy prohibits contact without clearance from lawyers, Politico, Feb. 24,
2017, http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/reince-priebus-fbi-contact-trump-235351 (same).

9

See, e.g., Michael B. Mukasey, Communications with the White House, Memorandum for Heads of Department
Components and U.S. Attorneys, Dec. 19, 2007, available at
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3371650/Mukasey-12-19-07.pdf (“Mukasey Memo”).

3

 It is also entirely appropriate for the White House to coordinate with the DOJ on issues of
policy, such as criminal justice reform or enforcement priorities. Where the DOJ is concerned,
policy decisions can have implications for pending litigation or investigations. For example, the
DOJ’s enforcement policy on medical marijuana in states in which it is legalized is a policy
question of broad application on which some coordination is appropriate, even though it could
have implications for pending matters.
It would be wholly inappropriate, however, for the White House to try to direct the use of
law enforcement to investigate or prosecute an individual matter, or to drop an investigation.10
Such political influence would raise due process and equal treatment concerns and could be seen
as in conflict with the law that “the conduct of litigation in which the United States is a party is
reserved to officers of the Department of Justice, under the direction of the Attorney General.”11
Indeed, White House lawyers have long recognized that even sharing information on the
status of an investigation or case can be inappropriate. A White House inquiry about a case can
inherently communicate the White House’s political desires and pressure the DOJ to act in a
certain manner. Moreover, in many cases such information sharing is neither necessary for the
President to perform his constitutional duties nor appropriate from a law enforcement
perspective.12 For example, it would be inappropriate from a law enforcement perspective for
the DOJ to share information with the White House where the ongoing investigation or
prosecution involves the President or Administration officials.13
Second, in addition to the substantive rules, both the White House and DOJ have
instituted prophylactic restrictions on who from the White House can contact whom at the DOJ,
in order to ensure that communications in this sensitive area are appropriate. Under longstanding policy, communications from the White House to the DOJ (including the FBI) about an
ongoing case, investigation, or adjudicative matter may be made only by the President, Vice
President, White House Counsel or the Principal Deputy White House Counsel (or a designee

10

See, e.g., The White House Transition Project and Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Smoothing the Peaceful Transfer of Democratic Power; The White House Counsel, Report No. 2017-29, at 35,
available at http://whitehousetransitionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/WHTP2017-29-Counsel.pdf (“The
White House Counsel’s oversight is meant to ensure that communications between the White House and the Justice
Department are properly conducted. Any effort to influence the legal judgments of the Department in ongoing cases
would generate significant difficulties for an administration.”).

11

28 U.S.C § 516.

12

Mukasey Memo.

13

See, e.g., The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, 39-41.

4

 once a conversation is initiated at senior levels).14 Communications also may only be directed,
as an initial matter, to the senior leadership of the DOJ (i.e., the Attorney General, Deputy
Attorney General, or Associate Attorney General’s offices) or the offices where such
communications are necessary and routine (e.g., the Office of Legal Counsel or Pardon
Attorney).15
By channeling all communications through a small number of high-level officials, and
especially through the White House Counsel’s Office, this policy has helped ensure that the
officials most familiar with this policy and the reasons underlying it are the only ones to engage
in these communications in order to ensure proper compliance. Lawyer-to-lawyer
communications also help avoid the appearance of politicization or the perception of pressure by
law enforcement officials on the receiving end of such communications. Even if political
officials disclaim any intent to apply pressure to act one way or the other, such pressure can
come across as implicit.
These prohibitions apply only to communications that can potentially be viewed as
influencing a case or investigation. Therefore, the DOJ policy explains that it does not “prevent
officials in the communications, public affairs, or press offices of the White House and the
Department of Justice from communicating with each other to coordinate efforts.”16 This is
limited, however, to pure press coordination. Moreover, the Obama Administration’s White
House contacts policy permitted communications for the purposes of “public affairs,” but
explained that this was only true where it did “not relate to a particular contemplated or pending
investigation or case.”17

14

There is an exception, not applicable in either of the current instances, for national security matters. In the Obama
Administration, for example, the Deputy Counsel to the President for National Security Affairs, the staff of the
National Security Council and Staff of the Homeland Security Council were permitted to freely discuss matters of
national security. See Eric Holder, Communications with the White House and Congress, Memorandum for Heads
of Department Components and All U.S. Attorneys, May 11, 2009, https://lawfare.s3-us-west2.amazonaws.com/staging/2017/2009%20Eric%20Holder%20memo.pdf (“Holder Memo”); Kathryn Ruemmler,
Prohibited Contacts with Agencies and Departments, Memorandum for All White House Office Staff, March 23,
2012 (“Ruemmler Memo”).

15

See, e.g., Jack Quinn, Memorandum for White House Staff, Contacts with Agencies, Jan. 16, 1996, available at
https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/27001 (“Quinn Memo”); Ruemmler Memo; Mukasey Memo.

16

Holder Memo ¶ 1(b).

17

Ruemmler Memo at 10.

5

 Agency Contacts Policies Have Traditionally Applied to All Agencies
While this memorandum focuses on White House contacts with the Department of
Justice, concerns about the impartiality of government action extend beyond just the DOJ. There
are equally important impartiality considerations with investigations, enforcement actions and
adjudications undertaken by other agencies (e.g., an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or
Department of Labor (DOL) enforcement action) as well as other agency decisions that could
impact individual parties, like licensing decisions.
To ensure the impartiality of actions by agencies across the Executive Branch, the White
House policy on agency contacts in the Obama Administration therefore provided:
White House staff should not contact agencies or departments about the merits of a
specific adjudication (including a licensing, permitting or approval proceeding or similar
regulatory action), benefit determination, investigation, litigation or enforcement matter
involving specific parties. Depending upon the agency involved and the nature of the
proceeding, such contacts may be prohibited by law, implicate due process concerns,
trigger disclosure requirements, or create an appearance of inappropriate influence — all
of which could prompt litigation or investigations, or generally undermine public
confidence in the integrity of government decision-making.18
There are also legal and appearance reasons that the White House should avoid
interfering with grant making, procurement, or other funding decisions. The Obama
Administration therefore similarly advised that White House staff should not contact an agency
or department about the merits of a particular grant or other funding decision involving specific
parties.19

18

Id. 4-5.

19

Id. 6-7.

6

 As with communications with the DOJ, these prophylactic restrictions are aimed at
impeding the exercise of unaccountable influence targeted at specific transactions that may have
personal or political interest to the President or White House (e.g., specific legal disputes,
specific investigations, specific matters and cases). These rules are not intended to impede
policy coordination between White House and executive agencies, which is to be encouraged not
discouraged.
Assessment of Recent Trump White House Contacts With DOJ
The recent reported communications by senior Trump White House officials, if true,
would appear to violate both the White House and DOJ contacts policies. Under longestablished policies, neither the White House Chief of Staff nor a Senior Advisor would be
authorized to communicate with the DOJ or FBI about a specific matter without involvement by
the White House Counsel.
A call from one of those individuals directly to a U.S. Attorney or the FBI about a
particular matter would be especially problematic. Under DOJ policy, the U.S. Attorneys are
vested with independence and authority, within their districts, to prosecute or defend all crimes
and civil actions.20 U.S. Attorneys are expected to have independence from the White House to
choose which cases to prosecute and how to argue cases.21 Investigative agencies like the FBI
are similarly independent. DOJ policy has therefore long sought to insulate the U.S. Attorneys
and the FBI from direct political intervention by the White House.22
Nor would the “public affairs” exception apply to communications from the Chief of
Staff to the leadership of the FBI. The DOJ policy — which, as far as we know, is still in effect
despite the change in administrations — makes clear that the public affairs exception is only
applicable to communications between press professionals.23 Because the limited press-relations

20

U.S. Attorney’s Manual § 3-2.140.

21

See, e.g., DOJ Office of the Inspector General report, An Investigation into the Removal of Nine U.S. Attorneys in
2006 at 194, available at https://oig.justice.gov/special/s0809a/final.pdf (discussing the “longstanding tradition of
integrity and independent judgments by Department [of Justice] prosecutors” and risk that, due to politicization, “the
confidence that the Department of Justice decides who to prosecute based solely on the evidence and the law,
without regard to political factors, will disappear.”).

22

See, e.g., Bell Address; Holder Memo ¶ 1 (“The Assistant Attorneys General, the United States Attorneys, and the
heads of investigative agencies in the Department have primary responsibility to initiate and supervise investigations
and cases. These officials, like their superiors and their subordinates, must be insulated from influences that should
not affect decisions in particular criminal or civil cases.”)

23

Holder Memo.

7

 nature of such a call might not be clear, calls between senior officials who also have the authority
to influence an investigation do not fall within that carve-out.
As a substantive matter, it is clearly inappropriate for the White House and FBI to be
discussing the FBI’s ongoing investigation of Trump campaign advisers. The FBI should never
have been discussing the details of an ongoing investigation that directly impacts the White
House with the White House. Even assuming that the FBI was reporting information that was
appropriate to share, which is doubtful, the White House should have only been in listening
mode so as not to be perceived as directing the FBI’s conduct in an investigation relating to the
White House. The fact that the FBI official reportedly spoke first does not relieve the Chief of
Staff of his obligations to ensure that the White House is not inquiring into actual or potential
investigations at the FBI, or suggesting the FBI take action on a matter that directly impacts the
White House.
In addition, were the White House Counsel to seek to obtain a FISA court order or
documents related to such an order in a particular investigation, especially one he believes might
involve the President, his associates, or his campaign, it would raise similar concerns that the
White House was seeking to influence the conduct or outcome of the matter.
Equally, if not more, important to evaluating actions taken so far, is the recognition that
the culture throughout a White House and across an entire Administration can be set early on
through actions like this at senior levels. Well beyond the DOJ, federal agencies have broad
enforcement powers that can be used (or abused) against private citizens and private businesses,
or to reward political allies at taxpayer expense. Temptations to infringe on these lines can
emerge even in the most well-intentioned administrations. Clear rules and vigilant examples set
from the top are absolutely essential to preventing a culture where these lines are crossed with
impunity.
The Trump Administration Must Take Measures to Protect Impartial Law Enforcement
The policies limiting contacts between the White House and DOJ were implemented in
the wake of the Watergate scandal. At the time, Attorney General Griffin Bell issued a clarion
call about the important need both for the Department of Justice to be independent and that the
public perceive it to be independent. His remarks remain true today, that “the Department [of
Justice] must be recognized by all citizens as a neutral zone, in which neither favor nor pressure
nor politics is permitted to influence the administration of the law.”24
24

Bell Address.

8

 The early weeks of the Trump Administration raise serious questions about whether its
officials recognize these important principles.
United to Protect Democracy therefore calls on the Trump White House to issue publicly
a policy on White House contacts with federal agencies that makes clear that it will abide by the
long-standing policies limiting contacts with law enforcement agencies. As has been the case
with prior administrations, this policy should also limit contacts about particular matters
involving specific parties between White House officials and officials at other executive branch
agencies with investigatory, regulatory, enforcement, grant-making, or contract-making power to
ensure those functions are carried out independently and free of the reality or appearance of
political interference.

9