Citing “confidentiality privileges” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has just refused to give a top House Democrat memos she has sent to President Donald Trump. Secretary Nielsen is currently testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee conducting oversight.
“Much of the information that I give in private to the President of course is covered under confidentiality privileges,” Secretary Nielsen told U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX). No such “confidentiality privileges” exist when Congress is conducting oversight, as the Democratic Congresswoman from Texas reminded the Homeland Security chief.
Congresswoman Lee had asked Sec. Nielsen if she has given the president information that allowed him to decide to declare a national emergency at the Southern Border.
“What I do is i give him the operational reality. ‘Here is what we’re facing, what we’re seeing, here are the facts’,” she replied.
“If there’s any data that you have given him in particular I request that it be made available to this committee, whether in a classified section or in writing, and if there have been any memos that you have directed to the President that would have given him the basis of calling for, in my opinion, a false emergency declaration,” Rep. Jackson Lee said.
The Secretary’s refusal mirrors that of the Trump White House, which is refusing to give Congress information on the security clearances given to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, and other Republicans who are saying they will not comply with the 81 letters sent by Congress investigating President Trump.
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