I’ll keep this brief since it really isn’t that complicated.
Democrats are complaining that former White House adviser Hope Hicks wouldn’t answer questions in a closed door meeting with the House Judiciary Committee. They say she’s under orders from White House counsel to not discuss her actions while working for the campaign or administration. They say executive privilege does not cover her. They are wrong.
Hicks cooperated with Robert Mueller’s investigation and is mentioned in his report several times. This was the right thing to do. But testifying before Congress on the internal workings of the White House or the Trump campaign are not the same thing. The DOJ, which conducted the Russian probe, is under the executive branch and therefore has authority to ask pertinent questions, even about the White House itself. Congress does not.
Some are claiming Congress has oversight over much of what the executive branch does and therefore needs to have answers. But that’s not true at all. What they’re fishing for is dirt on a political level since the Mueller investigation yielded zero fruit. This is why executive privilege applies to Hicks. The legislative branch cannot use their oversight responsibilities for the sake of political gain.
If there’s an issue with the actions of an agency, department, or the White House itself, then Congress should act as part of the checks and balances written into the Constitution. But the White House and the Trump campaign have been cleared of wrongdoing by the DOJ, so there is nothing for Congress to investigate. That doesn’t mean they can’t investigate; as Capitol Hill is wont to do, wasting time and taxpayer dollars is, unfortunately, an aspect of the latitude they’re given. But just because they choose to investigate doesn’t compel the executive branch to comply with their investigation.
Again, the case has already been investigated and settled.
They can (and will) claim this is all part of the larger impeachment investigation, which is why they’re able to get away with wasting time and money. But their powers of subpoena and ability to hold hearings cannot go unchecked. They can’t invoke these powers on a whim and expect complete compliance in every situation.
This is a situation where the burden of justification is placed solely on the Democrats’ desire to find something, anything they can use to eject President Trump from the White House, whether by impeachment or through the 2020 election.
At the end of the day, this really comes down to one thing: a smokescreen. They have to keep the pressure on the White House to stay relevant in the news cycle. Otherwise, people might hear about real problems in this country.

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