House Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah Cummings said that former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline has been stonewalling the committee’s recent requests for information. | Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images congress House Dems approve subpoena for White House security clearances probe The oversight panel also approved subpoenas for an investigation into the 2020 census.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Tuesday voted to authorize three subpoenas as part of Democrats’ increasingly aggressive investigations into the White House security clearance process and the Trump administration’s efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

In a party-line vote, the committee authorized Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to issue a subpoena for former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline to testify before the panel about his role in approving security clearances. The panel also authorized subpoenas for documents from Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross related to the 2020 census.


The threat of subpoenas — which Cummings can now issue at any time — come a day after the committee revealed that it interviewed White House employee Tricia Newbold, a whistleblower who said that senior officials ignored national security concerns to approve security clearances for 25 individuals whose applications were initially denied. Newbold described a “systematic” pattern of abuses on the part of Kline — who, according to Cummings, has been stonewalling the committee’s recent requests for information.

“Tricia Newbold came forward at great personal risk to warn the Congress and the nation about the grave security risks she has been witnessing first-hand over the past two years,” Cummings said, later telling reporters that it was possible he could issue the subpoenas “immediately.”

“When we are blocked from getting information, we can’t hold anybody accountable,” Cummings added.

Kline’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, sent a letter to Cummings on Tuesday saying his client would be willing to testify before the committee voluntarily, calling a subpoena “extreme and unnecessary.”

Republican members of the committee echoed that sentiment, accusing Democrats of conducting a partisan investigation. Ahead of the vote, Republicans and Democrats bickered over the scope of the committee’s probe, with GOP lawmakers asserting that the president has an absolute right to issue security clearances.

One Republican, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, referenced the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, saying the alleged abuses of the White House security clearance process can’t be compared to “classified emails being on an unsecured server.” Democrats dismissed comparisons to the Clinton investigation, arguing that the Trump administration is risking U.S. national security by overruling career officials’ denials of security clearances.

Green also introduced a resolution to refer Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former attorney, to the Justice Department for perjury prosecution. Cummings swiftly denied a vote on the measure.

Democrats said a subpoena was necessary in order to force Kline to answer questions about Newbold’s specific allegations, including that he often overruled clearance applications that were denied due to “disqualifying issues” such as foreign influence and other misconduct. Cummings said Kline was only willing to testify about the “general policies” of the security clearance process.

Newbold, an 18-year veteran of the White House under Republican and Democratic presidents, said she kept a list of 25 people — including senior officials with daily access to Trump — whose clearances were initially denied but overruled.

“This is a systemic crisis for all Americans,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Oversight panel. “This woman is an American hero for what she’s doing.”

The committee’s investigation gained new steam earlier this year after it was reported that Trump ordered his then-chief of staff to grant a top-secret security clearance to Jared Kushner, the president’s senior adviser and son-in-law, in a move that overruled intelligence officials.

Cummings has requested documents and witness interviews from the White House related specifically to Kushner’s clearance. The White House has rejected those demands.

The committee later authorized Cummings to issue subpoenas for documents from Barr and Ross related to the Commerce Department’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

On Monday night, the Commerce Department’s legislative affairs chief sent a letter to Cummings asking him to “abstain from considering or issuing a subpoena while our good faith dialogue continues.” In a statement after Tuesday’s vote, Ross did not acknowledge the subpoena or whether he intends to comply.

“The department remains committed to an open and responsive relationship with the committee and has been nothing but cooperative with the committee’s expansive and detailed requests for records,” Ross said. “As of today, we have turned over 11,500 pages of documents to the committee, and I voluntarily testified in front of the same committee for nearly seven hours on this issue two weeks ago.”

Lawmakers authorized the subpoenas anyway, demanding that Ross and Barr turn over specific documents including communications with the White House, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign, among other entities. The committee also asked the cabinet secretaries to turn over specific memos and emails which purport to detail how officials made the decision to add a question about citizenship.

“The committee is trying to determine the real reason Secretary Ross added the citizenship question, and the documents and testimony covered by these subpoenas are critical to answering that question,” Cummings said.

The issue has already reached the Supreme Court, after a federal judge blocked the Commerce Department from adding the citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Democrats have warned that adding such a question to the census would result in an under-count of the public in certain parts of the country with high immigrant populations, resulting in less federal funding to such communities and potentially fewer congressional seats and Electoral College votes.

Barr is already in lawmakers’ crosshairs over their demands to see special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report and all of the underlying evidence contained within it.

The House Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Wednesday to authorize Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) to issue a subpoena for the special counsel’s full report on Russian intervention in the 2016 election and potential obstruction of justice committed by Trump.

