The White House rejected a request from House Democrats for documentation regarding the top-security clearance granted to Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner, reportedly after Trump overruled the recommendations of career security officials. In a letter to House Oversight Committee chair Elijah Cummings on Monday, White House counsel Pat Cipollone called the panel's request "unprecedented and extraordinarily intrusive."
"As I have explained in multiple previous letters, it is clearly established as a matter of law that the decision to grant or deny a security clearance is a discretionary function that belongs exclusively to the Executive Branch," Cipollone wrote, in what may be a preview of the White House posture toward the multiple congressional investigations knocking on its door. "The Committee has not cited any legal authority to the contrary, nor explained what legitimate legislative initiative could require the information the Committee seeks.”
The White House effectively accused Cummings of overstepping both the constitutional authorities granted to Congress and those granted to the Executive Branch. Cipollone went on to claim that the White House wants to negotiate "in good faith" but the Oversight Committee is seeking "unilateral concessions."
Cummings fired back, "There is a key difference between a president who exercises his authority under the constitution and a president who overrules career experts and his top advisors to benefit his family members and then conceals his actions from the American people.”
To date, the White House still hasn't denied reports that Trump personally overruled career officials to grant Kushner a security clearance that nearly every other official deemed inappropriate. Last week, the most press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders could muster was, "We don’t comment on security clearances.” In some ways, this response from White House lawyers focusing on Trump's executive authority seems a tacit admission that Trump did exactly what the New York Times reported—he personally approved Kushner's clearance over the staunch objections of others due to national security concerns.
This won't be the last you hear of this confrontation, subpoenas are probably in the offing.