Tricia Newbold

Tricia Newbold is an American career government employee who has worked in the Executive Office of the President of the United States since 2000.[1][2] She works as a manager in the White House's Personnel Security Office.[3]

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Personal life

Formerly known as Tricia Picard, Newbold is from Madawaska, Maine, where she grew up and graduated from Madawaska High School in 1998.[4] She was born with a rare form of dwarfism.[5]

Career

Newbold has worked in the White House during four presidential administrations, beginning with the Clinton administration in 2000.[2][6] She eventually took on the role of adjudications manager in the White House, in which capacity she has had to determine whether certain presidential employees should be granted security clearances.[6] In addition to the Clinton and Trump administrations, she also worked under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.[7]

Security clearance controversy

In January 2019, Newbold was suspended for fourteen days without pay for refusing to cooperate with procedures implemented by her supervisor.[2] She has alleged that this suspension was made in retaliation for attempting to express her concerns about the granting of security clearances by her office.[1] In March 2019, Newbold spoke privately to the House Oversight Committee, claiming that at least 25 Trump administration officials were granted security clearances over the objections of career staffers.[8] Newbold also asserted that some of these officials had previously had their applications rejected for "disqualifying issues", only for those rejections to be overturned with inadequate explanation. On April 1, 2019, Elijah Cummings, the Committee chair, released a letter detailing Newbold's accusations. In a subsequent interview with NBC News, she accused her former boss, Carl Kline, of embarrassing her by moving files to high locations where she could not reach them.[9] Two sources confirmed the allegation to NBC.[9] She had previously filed a complaint against Kline with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for this alleged behavior.[1][3][6]

According to The Atlantic, Newbold "set an important mark when she became the first official currently serving in Donald Trump’s White House to take accusations of wrongdoing to Congress—and to put her name publicly behind them."[10]

References
  1. Kaplan, Rebecca (2019-04-01). "Whistleblower says 25 people given White House clearance despite rejections". CBS News. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. Rachael Bade (2019-04-01). "White House whistleblower says Trump officials reversed 25 security clearance denials". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2020-10-08. Newbold named several superiors she took her concerns to, including: Director of Personnel Security Carl Kline; his immediate supervisor, Chief Operations Officer Samuel Price; the White House counsel's office; assistant to the president Marcia Kelly; and Chief Security Officer Crede Bailey.
  3. Strickler, Laura; Alexander, Peter; Schapiro, Rich (2019-04-02). "White House whistleblower says she felt humiliated after retaliation from boss". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  4. Mitchell, Morgan (8 February 2019). "Maine native suspended from White House job after questioning security clearance practices". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  5. Hoey, Dennis (2019-04-02). "White House whistle-blower from Maine tells Congress her story". Portland Press-Herald. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  6. Rogers, Katie (2019-04-01). "White House Whistle-Blower Did the Unexpected: She Returned to Work". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  7. Mathis-Lilley, Ben (2019-04-01). "Whistleblower Says White House Overruled 25 Security Clearance Denials; Ivanka and Jared Are Reportedly Among Them". Slate. Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  8. Republican Committee Staff (2019-04-01). "Democrats' White House Security Clearance Transcribed Interview" (PDF). House Oversight Committee. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2020-10-08. One of Ms. Newbold’s primary complaints was that Kline overturned her adjudication determinations fairly regularly. She believed Kline’s decisions did not comport with the adjudicative guidelines. Since the start of the Trump Administration, Ms. Newbold said that she had compiled a list of 25 EOP employees for whom Kline had overruled her unfavorable recommendation.
  9. "'Whistleblower" in White House security office seeks protection". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  10. Berman, Russsell (4 April 2019). "'Dozens' of Whistle-Blowers Are Secretly Cooperating With House Democrats". The Atlantic. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
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