Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said Wednesday that she wants both transparency in the White House security clearance process and wants to know why so many aides are still without a permanent clearance.
“Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress should be very concerned about oversight, and about whether the people who are handling sensitive and classified information in the White House have the appropriate security clearances,” Ms. Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat, said on CNN.
“I hope we will get answers as to why so many people in this White House have not been cleared by the FBI so that they can handle these sensitive documents,” she added.
The controversy surrounding the employment of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who was accused of domestic violence by two former spouses, has caused many to question the security clearance process in the West Wing. Administration officials have failed to give a consistent timeline of what they knew about the allegations or how Mr. Porter continued to work in the White House in a high-level capacity on an interim security clearance for a year.
Several aides remain without permanent security clearance over a year into the Trump administration’s tenure. Members of Congress said they plan to launch an oversight investigation into this process and try to find answers.
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