Standoff ongoing on panel answers

WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that it will not authorize any executive branch officials to disclose to Congress information about individual security clearances, a move that House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., called “the latest example of the president’s widespread and growing obstruction of Congress.”

The Oversight panel has been examining the administration’s handling of security clearances and allegations that officials, including presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, were granted access to sensitive information over the objections of career staff.

The investigation has led to an escalating standoff between the House committee and the White House, which accused the panel in a letter Wednesday of “advancing a partisan political agenda.”

Among other things, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone wrote, “the committee appears to be putting public servants at risk” as it seeks information on the way in which the White House granted security clearances to Kushner and others in the top echelons of President Donald Trump’s administration.

In a statement, Cummings rejected Cipollone’s arguments and accused the administration of taking on the trappings of monarchy.

“The American people do not want a king in the White House — they want a President who adheres to the Constitution, who follows the law, and who recognizes Congress’ legitimate role as a check and balance on the Executive Branch,” he said.

The back-and-forth came as former White House personnel security director Carl Kline was set to testify in a private deposition Wednesday morning.

The White House had originally instructed Kline, a career federal employee now working at the Defense Department, not to show up for an earlier subpoenaed deposition, leading Cummings to announce he would hold Kline in contempt for ignoring a compulsory Hill summons.

In his nine-page letter Wednesday, Cipollone dismissed precedents cited by the committee as “misleading or irrelevant.”

The letter lambasted the committee’s approach while specifically denying its request for access to underlying FBI investigation files as it reviews the White House security clearance process.

“The Committee’s demands fall well outside the realm of legitimate congressional information requests,” Cipollone’s letter said. “It has long been recognized on both sides of the political aisle that there is no legitimate need for access to such sensitive information about individuals.”

Cummings responded that “the lengths to which President Trump and his aides are going to keep this information from Congress raise grave concerns about what they are trying to hide — and why.”

“The Committee will consider its next step after consulting carefully with our members,” he added.