WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A House of Representatives oversight panel said on Wednesday it would investigate the White House security clearance process, citing incidents involving President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and his national security adviser.
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the wide-ranging probe would examine why Trump’s transition team and the White House “appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information.”
Cummings said the panel would seek information in the cases of multiple current and former officials, including Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner, current national security adviser John Bolton, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former staff secretary Rob Porter.
He said the panel would also “evaluate the extent to which the nation’s most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them.”
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Trump’s former White House chief of staff, John Kelly, acknowledged shortcomings in the clearance process last year in response to a scandal involving Porter, who was accused of domestic abuse by two ex-wives.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Alexander)
