Cummings abandons the threat of contempt for the former W.H. chief of security

House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings has waived his intention to initiate contempt proceedings against former White House security clearance chief Carl Kline. who canceled the summons to appear earlier this week. Instead, he agreed to interview Kline with a lawyer.

The transcribed interview, according to Cummings, will take place on May 1 at Capitol Hill.

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"On the basis of the report that was presented to us, I am satisfied that the committee could act with contempt against you immediately, especially since your challenge to the subpoena was so flagrant," wrote Cummings. to Kline in a letter obtained on Saturday by POLITICO. "However, I have always tried to be as fair as possible in the search for the truth, especially with witnesses willing to appear before the Committee."

Cummings' decision is an eleventh-hour attempt to avoid the most serious confrontation to date between congressional investigators and the Trump government. It follows a last minute effort by Republican Republican oversight committee Jim Jordan.

Cummings issued a subpoena for Kline's testimony earlier this month, demanding his testimony on Tuesday. But Kline ignored his planned testimony after the White House advised him not to appear. This decision led Cummings to take early steps to keep Kline in contempt – a decision he said Saturday is still on the table if Kline does not show up at his interview.

If Kline accepts Cummings' parameters, he will appear at Capitol Hill at the same time that Attorney General William Barr is to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the report of Special Advocate Robert Mueller.

For weeks, House Democrats have been calling for Kline's testimony following a whistleblower's complaint that he had banned career staff from approving high-level security clearance for senior staff of the House. Blanche – even for some who had been reported for foreign involvement or other national security risks. The whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, an office employee for 18 years, said Kline had repeatedly hit her and retaliated against her when she had expressed concerns about her decisions. Recent reports have suggested that Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, was among those whose security clearances were approved despite national security concerns and that Trump intervened on behalf of Kushner.

Trump has recently adopted a position of resistance to Democratic demands for control and is committed to fighting any subpoena of Capitol Hill. This eventually led Kline to give up his testimony and a series of exchanges between Cummings and the White House that threatened to degenerate into a long legal dispute.

Instead, on Friday, Jordan went to the White House to ask attorney Pat Cipollone to authorize Kline's testimony next week. Cipollone responded late Friday by accepting the request, provided that the committee accepted the White House's initial requests – that a White House lawyer be present in the room and that Kline's testimony was limited to "political and practices "of the security control office.
In his Saturday letter, Cummings said he was giving in and allowing a White House lawyer to be present, but that the scope of the issues would not be limited to the White House's will .

"The committee defines the scope of its talks and its depositions – not the representative of Jordan, nor the other defense lawyers of the president," wrote Cummings. "You will be asked to answer all of the Committee's questions, including questions about specific White House officials and allegations of retaliation against the whistleblower, and if you answer all these questions, the committee will have there is no need to sue you in contempt for the future. "

Cummings pointed out that Cipollone's and Jordan's correspondence was not sanctioned by the Democrats of the committee. He described as "inadequate" the terms on which they agreed and a recycled version of terms that Cummings had already rejected when the White House originally proposed them. He also stressed to Kline that he was likely to suffer legal problems when he gave in to any request from a White House lawyer not to answer the committee's questions.

"This burden rests entirely on you, on the advice of your personal council, and not on the White House lawyers who may require you to disregard the questions of the Committee without assertion of privilege," he said. written.

Cummings also suggested that his continuing testimony on the security clearance process was aimed at investigating "serious risks to national security at the White House" and developing legislative reforms to address them.