UPDATE: In The Morning Briefing, I wrote about how former White House official and current Department of Defense employee Carl Kline was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee. The committee is part of an orchestrated harassment campaign against the president. Kline has refused to appear and so today, the committee moved to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he would consult with the House counsel and members of the panel about scheduling a vote on contempt for former White House personnel security director Carl Kline. At the instruction of the White House, Kline failed to show up for scheduled testimony on security clearances.
The move marks a dramatic escalation of tensions between Congress and the Trump White House, which is increasingly resisting requests for information from Capitol Hill.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
Yeah, blah, blah, blah. Tell it to Eric Holder.
ORIGINAL POST:
The continuing congressional hearing harassment
The Democrats are continuing their harassment of the president by conducting an almost constant assault of congressional hearings asking for all sorts of things for which they have no business asking. One issue they are “investigating” is related to the security clearance process that was leaked by one of the numerous #resistance cells ensconced in the administration. As soon as the Democrats won the House, the cells were activated and all the sleazy cell members scurried to the chairs of the House committees to unload all the “intelligence” they had been gathering since Trump took office. I think Trump is getting hip to this.
The White House has instructed a former official who was in charge of the security clearance process to not comply with a House subpoena demanding his appearance for an interview, the latest move by the Trump administration to thwart Democratic-led investigations into all aspects of the presidency.
After a day of tense negotiations, the White House late Monday told the former official, Carl Kline, who now works at the Defense Department, to not appear at Tuesday’s deposition, contending that Democrats were seeking access to confidential information that should be off limits.
The deputy counsel to Trump argued that Cummings’ subpoena of Kline “unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests.”
The backstory on Cummings’ effort is that #resistance mole Tricia Newbold “told the committee that at least 25 individuals had been greenlighted for security clearances despite serious concerns raised during the vetting process — and alleged that Kline retaliated against her for speaking out.”
Cummings would not allow Kline to appear with a White House representative to safeguard “Executive Branch confidentiality interests.”
What do the voters who elected Democrats to the House think? The Democrats aren’t really doing any work for the people, they are simple enacting their revenge fantasies because they lost the last presidential election. The only “solutions” coming from the Democrats are ridiculous: the Green New Deal, student loan forgiveness, voting rights for violent rapists and murderers, open borders, and Medicare for all. I guarantee you the seats that won the House for the Democrats were not won on these policy platforms.
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