A whistleblower who works for the federal government has told members of Congress that the White House overruled career employees who denied security clearances to 25 individuals.
A memo from the House Oversight Committee, run by Democratic lawmaker Elijah Cummings, said the whistleblower, identified by name, gave an on-the-record interview about the issue.
Cummings said that even though the names of the 25 people were not released publicly.
The memo from Cummings, published in full by a number of media outlets including public broadcaster PBS, said the White House was refusing to cooperate with his committee on the security clearances issue.
The New York Times had reported this year that Jared Kushner, a top advisor to President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, was given a security clearance at the president’s direction, in spite of concerns of career staff.
Cummings is subpoenaing a number of White House officials to testify to Congress on the issue.
The White House has argued in the past that the executive branch enjoys the prerogative of issuing security clearances, without conceding Trump has directly intervened to overrule decisions of career staff.
The memo from Cummings quoted the whistleblower as saying the decisions on security clearances were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security.
(NAN)
