OF THE VICE PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON

October 15, 2019

VL4 ELECTRONIC ONLY

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings The Honorable Eliot L. Engel
Chairman Chairman

House Committee on Oversight and Reform House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Washington, DC. 20515 Washington, DC. 205 15

The Honorable Adam B. Schiff

Chairman

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Washington, DC. 20515

Dear Chairmen:

The Of?ce of the Vice President has received the Committees? Letter to the Vice President,
dated October 4, 2019, which requests a wide-ranging scope of documents, some of which are
clearly not vice-presidential records, pursuant to a self?proclaimed ?impeachment inquiry.? As
noted in the October 8, 2019 letter from the White House Counsel to each of you and to Speaker
Nancy Pelosi,1 the purported ?impeachment inquiry? has been designed and implemented in a
manner that calls into question your commitment to fundamental fairness and due process rights.

The Of?ce of the Vice President recognizes the oversight role of your respective
committees in Congress. Please know that if the Committees wish to return to the regular order
of legitimate legislative oversight requests, and the Committees have appropriate requests for
information solely in the custody of the Of?ce of the Vice President, we are prepared to work with
you in a manner consistent with well-established bipartisan constitutional protections and a respect
for the separation of powers. Until that time, the Of?ce of the Vice President will continue to
reserve all rights and privileges that may apply, including those protecting executive privileges,
national security, attorney-client communications, deliberations, and communications among the
President, the Vice President, and their advisors.

As detailed in the White House Counsel Letter, the House of Representatives has not
authorized any ?impeachment inquiry.? Speci?cally, the operative House rules do not delegate to
any committee the authority to conduct an inquiry under the impeachment power of Article 1,
Section 2 of the Constitution. Instead of being accountable to the American people and casting a
vote to authorize what all agree is a substantial constitutional step, you have instead attempted to

 

1 Letter from Pat A. Cipollone, White House Counsel, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chairmen Adam B. Schiff, Eliot
L. Engel, and Elijah E. Cummings (Oct. 8, 2019).

Committee Chairmen
October 15, 2019
Page 2 of 2

avoid this fundamental requirement by invoking the Speaker?s announcement of an ?of?cial
impeachment inquiry? at a press conference.2 Never before in history has the Speaker of the House
attempted to launch an ?impeachment inquiry? against a President Without a majority of the House
of Representatives voting to authorize a constitutionally acceptable process.

The Of?ce of the Vice President encourages the Committees to forgo their request to the
Of?ce of the Vice President, or hold it in abeyance, pending your discussion With the White House
Counsel?s Of?ce concerning compliance with constitutionally mandated procedures. Similarly,
the Of?ce of the Vice President encourages the Committees to ?rst seek information from primary
sources that may be responsive to your broad requests.

  timer/,7?

Matthew E. Morgan
Counsel to the Vice President

cc: Hon. Kevin McCarthy, Minority Leader, House of Representatives
Hon. Jim Jordan, Ranking Member, House Committee on Oversight and Reform
Hon. Michael McCaul, Ranking Member, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hon. Devin Nunes, Ranking Member, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

 

2 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Press Release: Pelosi Remarks Announcing Impeachment Inquiry (Sept. 24,
2019),