Newbold told investigators she was going public because of her concerns that the security clearance process had become politicized inside the Trump White House.
“I want it known that this is a systematic, it’s an office issue, and we’re not a political office, but these decisions were being continuously overrode,” Newbold was quoted by Democrats on the Oversight Committee.
The release of the information and testimony from Newbold angered Republicans on the Oversight panel, who denounced the release of the information in their own release, labeling it a "reckless use of whistleblower information."
🚨BREAKING:Chairman @RepCummings reveals a #WhiteHouse Whistleblower has come forward in the Committee's investigation of #securityclearances! 📍Full Release:https://t.co/5wuo6amSMT pic.twitter.com/67G0w5nFB4
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) April 1, 2019
🚨#BREAKING: Read @Jim_Jordan’s statement on @RepCummings's Reckless Use of Whistleblower Information. https://t.co/09QsRijw5o pic.twitter.com/hq6gmtrayH
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) April 1, 2019
Democrats said the Newbold testimony showed "many security clearance denials were routinely overruled without following the proper protocols to document why senior officials disagreed with assessments and without memorializing the risks they were accepting."
The document issued by Democrats went over the cases of three 'senior White House officials,' detailing a series of disqualifying factors, which included foreign influence, personal conduct, and external employment.
Newbold, who currently works at the White House, told investigators in an interview this past weekend that she had taken her concerns up the chain of command repeatedly, as she said there was an 'unusually high number of interim' security clearances granted under the Trump Administration.
“Senior WH official 3” was a “high-profile official” at the NSC. clearance was denied, no longer at the White House pic.twitter.com/n2eNmDWON6
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) April 1, 2019
In the release from Democrats, Newbold asserted that she was subjected to a 'series of retaliatory and harassing actions' for raising questions about security clearance reviews, and was suspended without pay for 14 days on January 30, 2019.
"The specific basis for her suspension was an allegation that she failed to follow a new policy created by Mr. Kline in November 2018 to scan documents in separate .pdf files instead of a single .pdf file when sending them to other agencies," the Democratic release stated.
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