Complaints from House Oversight ranking member Jim Jordan regarding the politicization of the committee were met on Tuesday with derision from Democrats on the panel.
Jordan, an Ohio Republican, ripped his Democratic colleagues during a meeting to discuss subpoenaing a former White House aide over the Trump administration’s security clearance policies.
Democrats on the panel want to compel Carl Kline, the former White House personnel security director, to testify before Congress after a whistleblower told lawmakers over the weekend that more than two dozen rejected security clearance applications were later approved for Trump officials, despite there being red flags.
“First a Saturday deposition, then yesterday a press release after talking to just one witness where you handpick a few parts of her testimony, and now today. Now today, we’re going to subpoena a guy who just sent us a letter saying he’s willing to come here voluntarily. I’ve been on this committee for 10 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jordan said to murmurs and outbursts of laughter from the Democratic side of the hearing room.
“Oh please,” a member off camera could be heard saying.
“I haven’t,” Jordan continued.
“You’ve done it,” the other member replied.
Watch:
This is not how the Oversight Committee is supposed to operate. pic.twitter.com/inNm81AfAI
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) April 2, 2019
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., defended his handling of the interview, saying the whistleblower feared retaliation.
Tricia Newbold, a career White House security office employee who has served under both Democratic and Republican presidents, told House Oversight investigators that she and her colleagues had issued 25 security clearance denials that were overturned. Newbold sat down with the committee as part of its inquiry into clearances obtained by senior Trump advisers, including President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
House Oversight Republicans on Tuesday also pressed for a resolution referring Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen to the Justice Department for a perjury inquiry and prosecution. Cohen appeared before the committee in February in a high-profile, public session.
“Mr. Chairman, I am concerned about the credibility of this committee. The promises to hold Mr. Cohen accountable go unaddressed,” Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said. “Mr. Chairman, if we could just pass this resolution that I am about to propose, we will restore the credibility of this committee and can get on with this hearing.”
