House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings has pulled back from plans to initiate contempt proceedings against former White House security clearance chief Carl Kline — who blew off a subpoena demanding his testimony earlier this week
If Kline agrees to Cummings' parameters, he will be appearing on Capitol Hill at the same time Attorney General William Barr is slated to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee on special counsel Robert Mueller's report.
House Democrats have been demanding Kline's testimony for weeks following a whistleblower's complaint that he overruled career staffers to approve high-level security clearances for top White House personnel — even for some who had been flagged for foreign entanglements or other national security risks. The whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, an 18-year employee of the office, said Kline repeatedly undercut her and retaliated against her when she raised concerns about his decisions.
Trump has recently adopted a posture of resistance to Democratic oversight requests and vowed to fight any subpoenas from Capitol Hill. That ultimately led to Kline's decision to skip his deposition and a series of exchanges between Cummings and the White House that threatened to escalate into a lengthy legal dispute.
Instead, on Friday, Jordan reached out to the White House to urge counsel Pat Cipollone to permit Kline's testimony next week. Cipollone responded late Friday by agreeing to the request as long as the committee agreed the White House's initial demands — that a White House lawyer be present in the room and that Kline's testimony be limited to "policies and practices" of the security clearance office.
In his letter Saturday, Cummings said he'd relent and allow a White House lawyer to be present but that the scope of questions would not be limited to the White House's liking.
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