Lawmakers question Trump's security procedures after Porter resignation

Source: Politico | February 14, 2018 | Louis Nelson

The House Oversight Committee kicked off an investigation into Trump’s employment of Porter and what White House officials knew about domestic abuse accusations against him.

Republican lawmakers raised questions Wednesday about the Trump administration’s security clearance process and an oversight panel launched an investigation, as the controversy surrounding former aide Rob Porter starts to eat into Capitol Hill’s confidence in President Donald Trump’s White House.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said his House Oversight Committee on Tuesday night kicked off an investigation into Trump’s employment of Porter — the White House staff secretary who resigned last week — and what White House officials knew about domestic abuse accusations against him.

“You can call it official. You can call it unofficial,” Gowdy said on CNN Wednesday morning. “I’m going to direct questions to the FBI that I expect them to answer. And if they don’t answer them, then they’re going to need to give me a really good reason.”

Senior White House officials, including chief of staff John Kelly, have struggled to explain why Porter was allowed to stay on with only an interim security clearance and despite the existence of a protective order granted to one of his ex-wives. The White House says senior staff were not fully aware of the scope of the allegations until last week, but administration officials said Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn knew the broad outlines last year.

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Gowdy told CNN that his investigation’s initial step would be to seek a briefing from the FBI and Director Christopher Wray to get more details about the bureau’s security clearance investigation into Porter, what information about him was communicated to the White House and when. Gowdy said that information from the FBI would lead to inquiries directed at people in the Trump administration.

Wray told lawmakers Tuesday that the bureau submitted a preliminary report on Porter last March and filed further submissions last July and last November before closing its file in January. That timeline contradicted the one initially put forth by the White House, which said Porter’s resignation last week came as his security clearance process was ongoing and that it was being handled by the law enforcement and intelligence community.

“I’ve got the dates. Do you know what he told them? That’s my question. The dates are really important,” Gowdy said. “What I want to know from Chris Wray is what, with specificity, did you learn, when did you learn it and with whom did you share it and when did you share it?”

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