White House Should Prepare for GOP Subpoenas

With Republicans having taken control of the House, the White House better be prepared for massive amounts of subpoenas from GOP committee chairmen seeking details of deliberations over issues such as healthcare. So far the Obama administration is overwhelmed by the task, veterans of the Clinton administration, which fought similar battles, tell Politico.

“They’ve already been complaining that they’re beleaguered by Congress,” says one veteran Democratic strategist. “I don’t think [White House aides] have the slightest idea what they’re facing.”

The logistics aren’t easy. “There’s no question that just dealing with the subpoenas in and of themselves, finding the documents, the simple act of going around the White House collecting and organizing the documents, that’s an enormous effort and of course inevitably lead to fights with the Hill,” says Mark Fabiani, who served as a lawyer to President Bill Clinton.