The Trump Administration has rejected a demand from the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee for FBI background files and other documents on White House aides who were granted security clearances, claiming that releasing the documents would be illegal, according to a letter from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to Committee Chair Elijah Cummings on Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) The Trump Administration has rejected a demand from the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee for FBI background files and other documents on White House aides who were granted security clearances, claiming that releasing the documents would be illegal, according to a letter from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to Committee Chair Elijah Cummings on Wednesday."Much of the information requested by the Committee is subject to protections from disclosure by law," Cipollone wrote in the nine-page letter.
The House investigation was triggered by a February report in the New York Times that President Donald Trump had ordered his chief of staff to issue presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner a top secret security clearance over objections of staff.
A month later, a whistleblower told the Oversight Committee that Trump had overruled security-clearance denials for 25 unnamed White House aides, according to a memorandum publicly released by Committee staff.
"Contrary to all prior applicable precedent... the Committee continues to insist on pursuing access to individual FBI background investigation files," the letter said. "It has long been recognized on both sides of the political aisle that there is no legitimate [congressional] need for access to such sensitive information about individuals."
The letter accused the committee of disregarding the privacy and welfare of administration employees to advance a partisan political agenda, while adding that the president has an absolute right granted in the US Constitution to approve security clearance applications.
