By Tom Hamburger and Steven Mufson | Washington Post
WASHINGTON – Several current and former Trump administration appointees promoted sales of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a new report from congressional Democrats.
The officials who objected included White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security Council. They called for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles.
Yet the effort to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by former National Security Council chief Gen. Michael Flynn and more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week.
Details about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report released Tuesday morning by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. The report is based on documents obtained by the committee and the account of unnamed whistleblowers inside the White House who said they were distressed at the contual effort to sell the power plants.
Committee Republicans said Tuesday they were not included in the drafting of the detailed report, and had not received a copy until Sunday night. They said they had not had a chance to fully assess it.
The report includes a wide range of allegations and suggests the involvement of a long list of high profile people in Trump’s orbit.
Neither the White House nor individuals named in the report immediately responded to requests for comment Tuesday.
The Cummings report notes that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management , the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and adviser. Brookfield Asset Management took a 99-year lease on the family’s deeply indebted New York City property at 666 Fifth Avenue.
“Multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law – efforts that may be ongoing to this day,” the report says.
The whistleblowers also “warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction and backbiting. They noted that White House political appointees repeatedly ignored directives from top ethics advisers who repeatedly — but unsuccessfully – “ordered senior White House officials to halt their efforts.”
The Oversight Committee report, which focuses on the first three months of the Trump presidency, may have special relevance this week as Kushner begins a trip to the Middle East.
