WASHINGTON _ Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Friday accusing the White House of purposefully delaying the committee's investigation into executive security clearances.
"The White House has stalled, equivocated, and failed to produce a single document or witness to the committee," the letter reads.
The message sent to Cipollone on Friday was prompted by a Thursday New York Times report alleging that President Donald Trump lied to the paper in a January interview about his involvement in granting a security clearance to son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner.
"President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House's top lawyer," The Times report reads.
The Times report also explains both former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Donald McGahn II wrote internal memos bringing attention to Kushner receiving a security clearance.
The Oversight Committee is seeking answers on why Trump overruled his advisers and allowed Kushner to get his security clearance. It is also concerned about what information officials obtained regarding Kushner that led to denying him access to sensitive information.
The committee is also looking into why Kelly and McGahn felt compelled to release memos, and why the counsel's office is continuing to withhold documents and witness accounts from the committee.
Cummings' letter is the third, and final, message in an exchange between the Oversight Committee and Cipollone concerning breaches of national security in the White House. Cipollone was asked to respond to the letter by March 4.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat introduced a bill in the House Friday in a response to the Times report that amends the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. It would require congressional notification when individuals, who are not recommended by officials, are granted White House security clearance.
It's called the "Judgment And Responsibility in Executing Determinations for Security Clearance Act," or the "JARED Security Clearance Act of 2019."
