Attorney Requests WH Security Clearance Applications Of Obama Era-Senior Advisors

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney representing a White House civil servant being scrutinized by the House Oversight Committee wants the security clearance applications of senior Obama White House staff including Valerie Jarrett, Jay Carney and Ben Rhodes. The White House security application of National Action Network President Al Sharpton was also requested.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jim Jordan and Ranking Member of the Government Operations Subcommittee Mark Meadows sent a letter Friday to Committee Chair Elijah Cummings to redirect his security clearance process investigation to the previous administration. According to Jordan and Meadows, Rhodes — a former senior national security and foreign policy advisor for the Obama administration — received a high-level security clearance “despite a questionable background investigation that may have led the [FBI] to deny him an interim clearance.” The Republican Congressmen wrote: ''Mr. Driscoll’s request to you is an opportunity to prove that you are not using the Committee to target the President or his senior advisors. We understand that senior officials in the previous administration may have had problems with regard to their security clearance applications. According to public reports, Ben Rhodes, a former senior national security and foreign policy advisor in the previous administration, obtained a high-level clearance despite a questionable background investigation that may have led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to deny him an interim clearance. Similar troublesome issues also may have plagued the clearance process for former senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, among others.''

Cummings launched an Oversight investigation into the security clearance process of the current administration early this month, saying Tricia Newbold, a manager in the Personnel Security Office of the White House told the committee the Trump administration abused the security clearance process. As a result, she questioned 25 Trump White House employees who each received a security clearance, one of whom was Trump’s son-in-law and a top White House adviser, Jared Kushner, as The Washington Post reported. Newbold claimed Carl Kline, who was White House personnel security director during the first two years of the Trump administration, issued these clearances despite her concerns. “[The Trump White House is] going to basically say that we have no business looking at security clearances and then they’ll say that the president has complete authority to do that. And I agree he has complete authority to issue clearances to whoever he wants,” Cummings told reporters in early April. “The problem is that the process has been severely violated when you have people who—a couple of your employees say should not be getting these clearances. In some instances, because of criminal activity,” he added.

In a letter to Cummings and the Committee, Kline’s attorney, Robert Driscoll, wrote about his client’s concern about the course of the investigation, saying that the chairman issued a “sensational press release and memorandum with cherry-picked excerpts of sensitive and highly personal closed-door testimony” after interviewing just one witness — Newbold. Meadows and Jordan say that Cummings issued the press release without consulting Republican committee members or holding committee vote on the matter while targeting the president and his senior advisers.

Kline, according to Driscoll, was subpoenaed by the Committee for an April 23 deposition hearing, though he previously offered to appear voluntarily. However, in his letter to the Committee, Driscoll requested a withdrawal of the subpoena of his client “in substitution of a subpoena for White House records the Committee wishes to have Mr. Kline testify about.” Driscoll continued: ''However, if the Committee insists in proceeding with the subpoenaed testimony, I must prepare Mr. Kline without knowing your questions or the permitted areas of testimony. Thus, I must prepare him to respond to what I presume will inevitably be direct and implied accusations from this Committee that his conduct assessing security clearance issues—a non-political job responsibility he has carefully performed for decades—was either improper or inconsistent (or both) with longstanding bipartisan practice.''

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/12/requests-wh-security-clearance-obama-era-senior-advisors/

Georgia Ethics Chief to Subpoena Stacey Abrams’ Gubernatorial Campaign

Georgia’s newly minted director of the state ethics commission said Thursday his agency will subpoena the bank records of failed Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and groups that assisted her with raising campaign funds.

David Emadi, a former Douglas County prosecutor who started Monday as head of the ethics commission, announced plans to look into the Abrams campaign during a press conference on general agency business with reporters. He did not provide specifics on what kind of possible wrongdoing officials are looking into. “What I can say about the investigation into the Abrams campaign is, in the relatively near future, I expect we will be issuing subpoenas for bank and finance records of both Miss Abrams and various PACs and special-interest groups that were affiliated with her campaign,” said Emadi.

Lauren Groh-Wargo, who served as Abrams campaign manager, said of the imminent inquiry in a statement: “The Abrams campaign worked diligently to ensure compliance throughout the election and, had we been notified of any irregularities, would have immediately taken action to rectify them.” Groh-Wargo continued: “The new ethics chief ― a Kemp donor and former Republican Party leader ― is using his power to threaten and lob baseless partisan accusations at the former Abrams campaign when they should be focused on real problems like the unethical ties between the governor’s office and voting machine lobbyists instead.” Abrams, who is out with a new book Lead from the Outside, has said she refuses to concede her gubernatorial bid to Gov. Brian Kemp (R) because it would validate that “the process is proper.” Abrams and her allies have accused Kemp of suppressing African-American and Democrat voters to win what was one of the 2018 midterm election’s most high-profile races. She recently launched Fair Fight Action, a group aimed at combatting voter suppression. In a federal lawsuit against Georgia officials, the group accused the state of grossly mismanaging its election system.

Emadi’s announcement comes as Abrams is plotting out her political future, which may include running for the U.S. Senate or a White House bid. The 45-year-old is also mulling another gubernatorial campaign in 2022. In a recent interview with Politico, Abrams said the crowded field of Democrats seeking the presidency offers her an “opportunity” to possibly launch a bid of her own in early fall. “Because of the crowded field, that has actually created a bit of an opportunity to do more investigation,” she said. “My responsibility is to analyze it, decide if that’s the job for me and how I can win… I believe based on my understanding of the contours of how to run a presidential race, September is actually an appropriate date.”

Abrams has also been floated as former Vice President Joe Biden’s number two when the 76-year-old launches a White House bid of his own. Appearing on MSNBC’S Morning Joe earlier this month, the progressive darling swatted away such reports, saying she does not believe in running for “second place.” “I do not believe you run for second place, and I do not intend to enter a presidential race as a primary candidate for vice president,” stated Abrams. “If I enter the race for president, I will enter the race for president.” “[O]nce we have a nominee, I am open to having conversations should I not be someone who’s running, I am open to conversations with anyone,” she added.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/04/12/georgia-ethics-chief-to-subpoena-stacey-abrams-gubernatorial-campaign/