White House tells former official to ignore Dem subpoena seeking answers on security clearances

The acting White House chief of staff has told a former national security official not to testify before Congress about security clearances granted to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Former White House Personnel Security Director Carl Kline had been supposed to testify Tuesday before the House Oversight Committee, but acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told him not to comply with a subpoena.

Michael Purpura, deputy counsel to President Trump, wrote a letter that showed Kline was instructed not to appear after the committee rejected a White House request for representative from the Office of Counsel of the President to attend the deposition.

Kline's attorney wrote a letter showing the former White House official wanted to answer the committee's questions about security clearances granted to the president's daughter, son-in-law and others over the objections of national security professionals, but saying they could not take part in the hearing due to an "impending conflict."