The House Oversight Committee is moving to cite a former Trump White House official for contempt of Congress after he ignored a subpoena to testify about White House security clearances.
Carl Kline, a former White House personnel security director, failed to show up for scheduled testimony Tuesday after being told to do so by a Trump lawyer.
“The move marks an escalation in the standoff between the administration and Congress,” says CNN.
“The White House and Mr. Kline now stand in open defiance of a duly authorized congressional subpoena with no assertion of any privilege of any kind by President Trump,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), the committee chairman, said in a statement.
“Based on these actions, it appears that the President believes that the Constitution does not apply to his White House, that he may order officials at will to violate their legal obligations, and that he may obstruct attempts by Congress to conduct oversight.”
Cummings issued the subpoena earlier this month, ordering Kline to appear.
In a letter to Kline’s lawyer obtained on Monday by the Post, White House deputy counsel Michael Purpura wrote that the subpoena “unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests.”
Cummings’ subpoena followed testimony from a veteran White House personnel security whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, who said Trump officials were being reckless in granting security clearances.
Among other things, Newbold said, her staff determined that presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner — identified in committee documents as “Senior White House Official 1” — had too many “significant disqualifying factors” to receive a clearance.
That recommendation was overruled by Kline, and ultimately Trump demanded Kushner be granted a permanent top-secret clearance.
Trump’s order made then-White House chief of staff John Kelly “so uncomfortable that he documented the request in writing, according to people familiar with the situation,” the Post says.
