Obstructing...and backing down

In an interview with The Washington Post, President Trump said he plans on fighting any subpoenas or requests for current and former White House aides to testify before congressional panels. “There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan,” Trump said. This includes the subpoena the House Judiciary Committee issued to White House Counsel Don McGahn, according to ABC News. In a statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said, “the reports, if accurate, represent one more act of obstruction.”

  Preet Bharar

The White House said on Friday it will allow its former personnel security director Carl Kline to give limited testimony to the House Oversight Committee on May 1, Politico reports.

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney instructed Kline not to testify for his original April 23 subpoena date, as the House committee continues its investigation into the White House security clearance process. House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings moved to hold Kline in contempt after he failed to appear for his deposition.

  Axios

"[W]e understand the scope of the interview will be limited to White House personnel security policies and practices, consistent with our prior offers for Mr. Kline's voluntary cooperation with the Committee," White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote in the letter to the committee's top Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan.

The offer, pitched in response to a request from Jordan to avert an escalating confrontation between the White House and Congress, may not satisfy Democratic demands for testimony on some of the most controversial security clearance decisions made by the Trump White House. But it's the first move toward accommodation by an administration that has openly rejected submitting to most Democratic oversight requests. In addition, if lawmakers opt to interview Kline and find his answers overly restricted, the committee could still seek to depose him, according to a source familiar with the process.

[...]

Democrats have been demanding Kline's testimony following a whistleblower's complaint that Kline overruled career staffers to approve high-level security clearances for top White House personnel, even though their applications had been flagged as national security risks. But until late Friday, the White House had ordered Kline to refuse to appear, and Kline's attorney Robert Driscoll indicated that Kline intended to defer to his employer's wishes.

  Politico

By trying to limit his testimony to "policies and practices", I assume Trump is trying to avoid having Kline admit that Trump demanded he give clearances to specific people, and why those people were not approved by the process.

Cummings aides did not respond to requests for comment but it's unlikely he'll accept the terms offered by the White House. In addition to restricting Kline's testimony to general "policies and practices" of the security clearance office, Cipollone also indicated he expected to have a lawyer on his team present in the room, a demand that Democrats have not agreed to and that they've argued conflicts with the committee's past practice.

[...]

Democrats have raised concerns about the security clearance process at the White House for two years. They're particularly interested in how Trump's son in law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, obtained a clearance — especially following recent reports that Trump intervened to overrule recommendations that Kushner not be granted a high-level clearance.

[...]

Cummings has rejected complaints about his handling of the process, calling Republican criticism disingenuous and urging Kline to testify or face potential legal consequences.

"Mr. Kline’s attorney is trying to cast him as caught in the middle of a dispute between the Committee and the White House, asserting that Mr. Kline is ‘not a party in interest.’ That is not correct," Cummings said in a statement Tuesday. "Mr. Kline stands accused of retaliating against a whistleblower who reported serious allegations of abuse to Congress. As the Committee with primary jurisdiction over the Whistleblower Protection Act, we take extremely seriously our responsibility to investigate these allegations and to protect the rights of all whistleblowers who come before Congress."