Rep. Trey Gowdy says the House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the Trump administration's handling of Porter allegations. pic.twitter.com/I6yCwhusnk
— Axios (@axios) February 14, 2018
Maybe it’s just that “don’t hit girls” is a really, really low bar to clear; even the dumbest most partisan Fox News watcher can understand why it’s a bad idea to get caught encouraging such behavior. Or maybe the professional Repubs are just fekkin’ desperate to sever themselves from this dumpster fire of an administration. Politico:
House Republicans 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 started to eat into their 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…
Asked about Gowdy’s investigation into the Porter scandal Wednesday, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he had been informed of the probe and believes the White House has to improve its vetting system for employees.
“They have work to do to improve their vetting system,” Ryan told reporters on Wednesday. “I don’t know how exactly they’ll do that; I will leave that to them. But Chairman Gowdy is doing his proper job on oversight, and yes, he did give us a heads-up.”…
The Porter situation has heaped scrutiny particularly on the White House’s security clearance procedures. Many other White House aides have been operating on interim clearances because they have not gotten a permanent security signoff. The White House personnel security office said last fall it would stop issuing new interim clearances, but people who already had them were allowed to keep working.
Three Democrats plan to introduce legislation Wednesday to give Congress greater oversight of the White House’s security clearance process. Among other provisions, the legislation, co-sponsored by Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), would limit the use of interim security clearances to a year and require the White House to submit a list of individuals with security clearances working in the Executive Office of the President to Congress every three months…
Gowdy denied a recent allegation from Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, that the committee had avoided investigating the White House’s security clearance issues. But he said there were limits to his committee’s ability to compel the White House and FBI to answer questions — “unless you’re Jack Bauer, you can’t make people answer questions” — and urged the media and the public to put pressure on the executive branch to be more forthcoming…
Gowdy doesn't want Trump's taint hurting him in the private sector he's not f***ing noble the Legion of Doom always falls apart from within.
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 14, 2018
White House imposed a ban last fall on new interim security clearances, likely recognizing the potential pitfalls of the practice. It let those who already had them — Porter, Kushner — keep them. https://t.co/w2HpbqA8Iy via @AndrewRestuccia and @ewstephe
— Paul Volpe (@pvolpe) February 14, 2018
Kushner is the tail wagging the dog here. WH can't approve him for a permanent clearance because he's the subject of a criminal probe. But they can't yank everyone else's interim clearance and leave just his in place. So we get this mess. https://t.co/f2ldh17qLV
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) February 14, 2018