The former official who oversaw the security clearance process at the White House will not cooperate with a House subpoena to testify.
After a whistleblower told the House Oversight Committee that at least 25 denials for security clearances have been reversed during the Trump administration, Carl Kline was subpoenaed last week to appear before the panel on Tuesday.
But President Trump’s deputy counsel Michael Purpura said in a letter the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena request “unconstitutionally encroaches on fundamental executive branch interests.”
Kline’s lawyer Robert Driscoll said his client sides with the Trump administration.
“With two masters from two equal branches of government, we will follow the instructions of the one that employs him,” Driscoll said in a letter obtained by CNN.
House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has said Kline will be held in contempt if he fails to testify.
Kline is now employed with the Department of Defense.
