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excerpt from WH letter (minus footnotes)p4-5:
I. Your "Inquiry" Is Constitutionally Invalid and Violates Basic Due Process Rights and the Separation of Powers.

As if denying the President basic procedural protections were not enough, the Committees have also resorted to threats and intimidation against potential Executive Branch witnesses. Threats by the Committees against Executive Branch witnesses who assert common and longstanding rights destroy the integrity of the process and brazenly violate fundamental due process. In letters to State Department employees, the Committees have ominously threatened --without any legal basis and before the Committees even issued a subpoena--that "[a]ny failure to appear" in response to a mere letter request for a deposition "shall constitute evidence of obstruction." Worse, the Committees have broadly threatened that if State Department officials attempt to insist upon the right for the Department to have an agency lawyer present at depositions to protect legitimate Executive Branch confidentiality interests--or apparently if they make any effort to protect those confidentiality interests at all--these officials will have their salaries withheld.

The suggestion that it would somehow be problematic for anyone to raise long-established Executive Branch confidentiality interests and privileges in response to a request for a deposition is legally unfounded. Not surprisingly, the Office of Legal Council at the Department of Justice has made clear on multiple occasions that employees of the Executive Branch who have been instructed not to appear or not to provide particular testimony before Congress based on privileges or immunities of the Executive Branch cannot be punished for following such instructions. Current and former State Department officials are duty bound to protect the confidentiality interests of the Executive Branch and the Office of Legal Council has also recognized that it is unconstitutional to exclude agency counsel from participating in congressional depositions. In addition, any attempt to withhold an official's salary for the assertion of such interests would unprecedented and unconstitutional. The Committees' assertions on thee points amount to nothing more than strong-arm tactics designed to rush proceedings without any regard for due process and the rights of the individuals and the Executive Branch. Threats aimed at intimidating individuals who assert these basic rights are attacks on civil liberties that should profoundly concern all Americans.
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You should really read the whole thing, it's just as straightforward all the way through. THE GLOVES ARE OFF