Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter urging Chairman Trey Gowdy to finally begin conducting credible oversight of the security clearance process at the White House, not only in light of the many irregularities that have been reported over the past year, but also based on new reports that White House Staff Secretary Robert Porter retained his position even after being denied a permanent security clearance due to domestic violence allegations against him.
“If you had agreed to any of our previous requests for information on these matters, the White House would have been required to answer key questions about why Mr. Porter was denied a final security clearance, who at the White House was aware of this information, and how Mr. Porter was allowed to remain in his position," Cummings wrote. “Instead, because of your multiple refusals, we did not find out about any of these issues until they were reported in the press. In this and many, many other areas, it appears that the Oversight Committee has constructed a wall around the White House in order to prevent any credible oversight whatsoever."
