[FACT CHECK] US Congress Has Summoned Sitting Presidents Before [FULL LIST]

*Sitting Presidents & Vice Presidents Who Have Testified Before Congressional Committees

The invitation extended to President Buhari to appear before the National Assembly has elicited mixed reactions across the country regarding the constitutionality of the invitation

The arguments started when the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, said NASS lacks power to invite President Buhari to explain the security situation of the country and Buhari is under no obligation to honour the invitation.

Some even contended that the Congress of the United States whom Nigeria modeled its presidential system after has never summoned a sitting President in the United States. 

Recall that some senior lawyers have argued that the National Assembly can summon the president.  Falana, SAN, in his conversation with TheNigerialawyer on Friday said: 

“No doubt,  Nigeria operates the presidential system of government. In challenging the resolution of the members of the House of Representatives to invite President Buhari to address them on the state of security in the country.  

“It has been contended by some colleagues that the  Congress has never summoned a sitting President in the United States. With respect, the contention does not reflect the constitutional history of that country.  

A fact check conducted by TheNigeriaLawyer shows that the contention does not reflect the constitutional history of that country. 

Find below the list of Presidents/Vice Presidents that have testified before congressional committees.

President Abraham Lincoln¹
House Judiciary Committee
February 13, 1862

“President Lincoln today voluntarily appeared before the House Judiciary Committee,” reported the New York Tribune, “and gave testimony in the matter of premature publication in the Herald of a portion of his last annual message.” Lincoln’s message to Congress on December 1861 had been published in the New York Herald on the same morning that it was sent to Capitol Hill. The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by John Hickman, investigated the leak and called Herald correspondent Henry Wikoff to testify. Wikoff refused to divulge his source, citing “an obligation of strictest secrecy.” Given Wikoff’s close friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln, many assumed that the correspondent was protecting the first lady. The committee ordered the sergeant at arms to hold Wikoff. Then the president went to the Capitol for a private meeting with Judiciary Committee members, to assure them that no member of his family was involved. The next day the committee released Wikoff.

Vice President Schuyler Colfax
House Select Committee to Investigate the Credit Mobilier
January 7, 1873

Vice President Colfax appeared voluntarily before the House Select Committee concerning his ownership of stock in Credit Mobilier, a company involved in the construction of federally subsidized transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad. During the previous presidential campaign, in response to newspaper criticism, Colfax had denied that the railroad’s agent, Congressman Oakes Ames, had given or offered him stock in the Credit Mobilier. Before the committee, Colfax testified that he had first agreed to buy $500 worth of stock from Ames but later decided against making the purchase; but that Ames never repaid him the $500. Oakes Ames, however, produced evidence of Colfax’s check to him for $534 and his check to Colfax for $1,200, the difference being a 60 percent cash dividend.

President Woodrow Wilson
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
August 19, 1919

Members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took testimony from President Wilson at the White House concerning the treaty of peace with Germany and establishment of a League of Nations. The president opened by reading a statement and then answered questions for three and a half hours, after which the president invited them to stay for lunch. Chairman Henry Cabot Lodge explained that the committee was “very desirous of getting information on certain points which seem not clear and on which they thought information would be of value to them.” Despite Wilson’s efforts, the Senate twice rejected the Treaty of Versailles, and the United States never joined the League.

President Gerald R. Ford
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, House Judiciary Committee
October 17, 1974

President Ford voluntarily appeared before the Subcommittee at the Capitol to explain the reasons behind his pardon of former president Richard M. Nixon. Ford insisted that the pardon had not been prearranged, but was the result of his concerns over reports of Nixon’s deteriorating mental and physical health.

Former Presidents Who Have Testified Before Congressional Committees

Theodore Roosevelt
House Committee on Investigation of the United States Steel Corporation
August 5, 1911 (Steel industry)

Senate Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections
October 4, 1912 (campaign expenditures)

William Howard Taft²
House Select Committee on Budget
October 4, 1919 (National Budget System)

Senate Committee on the Judiciary
October 5, 1921 (additional judges, Conference of Senior Circuit Judges)

House Committee on the Judiciary
November 7, 1921 (additional judges, Conference of Senior Circuit Judges)

House Committee on Military Affairs
January 19, 1922 (Fort Nathan Hale Park)

House Committee on the Judiciary
March 30, 1922 (Jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court)

House Committee on Claims
April 26, 1922 (claims of employees of Bethlehem Steel)

House Committee on the Judiciary
January 23, 1924 (additional judges for the Eighth Circuit)

House Committee on the Judiciary
December 18, 1924 (Jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court)

House Committee on Claims
March 4, 1926 (award to employees of Minneapolis Steel Co.)

House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization
May 1, 1926 (naturalization administration)

Subcommittee of House Committee on the Judiciary
May 10, 1928 (creating Tenth Circuit)

House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
May 16, 1928 (Supreme Court building)

Harry S. Truman
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
April 18, 1955 (United Nations Charter)

Gerald R. Ford
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Senate Judiciary Committee
March 1, 1983 (bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution)

1. President George Washington testified before the entire Senate on the subject of Indian treaties on August 22, 1789.

2. Former President William Howard Taft testified before Congress frequently as a result of his service as co-chair of the National War Labor Board during World War I and Chief Justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. The testimony listed here relates to legislation and claims before Congress but omits the numerous times Taft testified in support of appropriations for the judiciary.

Prepared by the Senate Historical Office and Senate Library
2017