His comments come amid an intensifying power struggle between his administration and Democrats who hold a majority in the House of Representatives. He told the Washington Post the testimony was unnecessary, after the White House cooperated with the special counsel probe into collusion with Russia in the 2016 Presidential Election. The report concluded that there was no collusion, but did not reach a conclusion as to whether the President obstructed justice.
Trump asserted: “There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan – obviously very partisan.”
The White House has made clear it plans to defy requests for further information, increasing yet further friction between the branches of government.
On Tuesday, the White House said Trump’s administration plans to fight a subpoena issued by the House Judiciary Committee for former White House counsel Donald McGahn by asserting executive privilege over his testimony.
Meanwhile, another former White House official was told not to comply with a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee, prompting the panel to hold the official in contempt of Congress.
READ MORE: President Trump’s popularity sinks to ‘all-time LOW’ after Mueller
The Treasury Department also defied a second demand to turn over President Trump’s tax returns.
Altogether, the clashes mark an escalation of tensions between the President and House Democrats that originally sparked over funding for Trump’s Mexico border wall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview for the Time 100 Summit in New York: “Now we see the administration engaging in stonewalling of the facts coming to the American people.”
Trump insisted that the White Counsel’s Office has not “made a final, final decision” about whether to formally assert executive privilege and block congressional testimony.
However, he said he was opposed to cooperation with the House, because he claimed those called would be “testifying to a party”.
Trump said: “I allowed by lawyers and all the people to go and testify to Mueller – and you know how I feel about the whole group of people that did the Mueller report.
“I was so transparent; they testified for so many hours.
“They have all of that information that’s been given.
He added: “I fully understood that at the beginning. I have my choice.
“I could have taken the absolute opposite route.”