(CNN) The White House is rejecting a demand from two top House Democrats to detail whether President Donald Trump improperly sought to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger, the latest refusal to turn over records to Democrats probing all aspects of the Trump administration. 

The Democrats, Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York and Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, sent a letter last month seeking information in the wake of a New Yorker report saying that Trump directed his then-economic adviser Gary Cohn to block the $85 billion merger. 

Nadler and Cicilline contended that White House interference in anti-trust enforcement is "unacceptable" and is similar to circumstances in the Nixon administration, as they requested communications between Trump and senior White House officials over the merger. 

But the White House sent a letter dated Monday to the Democrats turning down the request, arguing that "robust confidentiality protections are essential for the proper functioning of the Presidency." 

"We cannot, however, provide the Committee with protected communications between the President and his most senior advisers that are at the very core of the Executive Branch's confidentiality interests," White House counsel Pat Cipollone said in the letter. 

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