NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The White House is ignoring a bipartisan congressional inquiry regarding documents about the Rob Porter scandal, prompting the House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat to request that the White House be subpoenaed over the matter.
The committee’s investigation into White House security clearances began after Porter, a former staff secretary, resigned amid domestic abuse allegations, which he denies. The allegations prevented Porter from obtaining a full security clearance and have since raised questions about other White House officials operating without one.
House Oversight Committee chair Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, sent a letter to the White House last month asking for a wide range of details over the Porter matter, demanding they comply by February 28. They wanted a detailed timeline of the Porter background check by the FBI, when White House officials became aware of his problems and what they did about it…
The committee received a brief letter Thursday night from White House legislative director Marc Short, pointing to the changes that chief of staff John Kelly made to the security clearance process — and ignoring the questions about Porter…
Gowdy’s office declined to comment Friday on whether it would issue a subpoena. The South Carolina Republican told CNN Wednesday that the White House had been making a “good faith” effort to respond to his request.
They also requested more details of individuals with interim clearances, and how that process was governed…
Cummings, however, wrote Friday that the committee has not scheduled any interviews with the White house.”
-Manu Raju and Veronica Stracqualursi, “White House ignores congressional inquiry on security clearance procedures,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, Mar. 9, 2018 11:45am