Cummings Threatens To Hold Security Clearance Probe Witness In Contempt

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questions a witness on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, during the committee's hearing on 'Exami... Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, questions a witness on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, during the committee's hearing on 'Examining FOIA Compliance at the Department of State.' (AP Photo/Molly Riley) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The House Oversight Committee is threatening to hold a former White House official in contempt for ignoring a subpoena issued as part of their probe into abuses of the security clearance process.

Committee chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD) issued a statement Tuesday urging former White House personnel security director Carl Kline to testify instead of following the White House’s order not to do so.

“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,” Cummings said. “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.”

“I intend to consult with House Counsel and Committee Members about scheduling a vote on contempt,” he added. “I hope that Mr. Kline, in close consultation with his personal attorney, will carefully review his legal obligations, reconsider his refusal to appear, and begin cooperating with the Committee’s investigation.”

An attorney representing Kline told the committee on Monday that Kline would follow an order from the White House to ignore the subpoena. The White House demanded that Kline only be deposed by the committee if accompanied by a representative from the Office of Counsel to the President. After the committee rejected that demand, the White House told Kline to ignore the subpoena.

“The Committee has repeatedly deposed officials across the government — including from the White House — represented by their own counsel and excluding representatives of the agency under investigation,”Cummings said in his Tuesday statement. “The White House now seeks to stonewall this otherwise routine congressional process. There are obvious reasons we need to conduct our investigations of agency malfeasance without representatives of the office under investigation.”

Kline is accused of retaliating against a whistleblower who raised concerns that 25 people who were denied security clearances by career officials were then granted the clearances by political appointees. Kline allegedly placed files out of the reach of whistleblower Tricia Newbold, who has dwarfism, after she voiced her concerns.

Latest Muckraker

Notable Replies

  1. Watch out for the next Tweet storm.

    It is coming.

  2. Put his ass in jaiil. If it’s good enough for Chelsea Manning, it’s good enough for this jerk. You know he was laughing with his buddies when he moved the files to a higher shelf!

  3. Go get them Cummings. Yes, there’s back and forth and process that seeming takes forever, but things are moving.

  4. So Trump arranges for Kline to be unavailable for detainment by the House Sergeant-at-Arms. Or something. For sure he’s not buckling to a contempt action.

  5. A thousand times this. Quit threatening to do something, and do something! All these threats and missed deadlines do nothing but emphasize how milquetoast and ineffectual the Dem leadership is, and reinforce the perception of weakness.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

94 more replies

Participants

Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for xpurg8d Avatar for heirball Avatar for thehatter Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for cervantes Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for irasdad Avatar for sparrowhawk Avatar for lastroth Avatar for ifeveroheverawiztherewas Avatar for pb Avatar for bboerner Avatar for katwillow Avatar for civik Avatar for established_1781 Avatar for georgeh Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for allblues Avatar for justruss Avatar for katex Avatar for zillacop Avatar for outis Avatar for dogmaalsocatma

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: