NATIONAL SECURITY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/WHITE HOUSE STAFF: “A White House staff member has told House investigators that senior officials have overruled concerns raised about 25 individuals whose security clearances were initially denied over a range of disqualifying issues — such as fears about foreign influence and potential conflicts-of-interests — warning of the grave implications to national security, according to a senior Democratic lawmaker. Now House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings plans to issue a subpoena this week demanding an interview with Carl Kline, who served as the personnel security director at the White House during President Donald Trump’s first two years in office — as part of the Democrats’ investigation into the handling of the security clearance process, including for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the President’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who are both also White House advisers…Cummings released a memo Monday detailing an interview with Tricia Newbold, a White House employee who has worked for 18 years in Republican and Democratic administrations and currently serves as the Adjudications Manager in the Personnel Security Office.”
–Manu Raju and Lauren Fox, “Cummings: Whistleblower says White House pushed for security clearances despite ‘serious disqualifying issues’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 1, 2019 9:53 pm