Sebelius, Solis decline Issa invite to testify

Two former Obama cabinet officials have declined to testify before the House Oversight Committee in its probe of the White House political office.

The news came late Friday in an angry statement from Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who blasted the officials for [shrinking] “from an examination of the facts.”

{mosads}”The White House’s efforts to reconfigure its political office does not inoculate it from oversight of any prior wrongdoing or efforts to rectify these legal violations,” Issa said.

Issa sought out former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis last month because both were accused of violating a law that limits political activity in the executive branch.

Sebelius received an official determination of guilt from of the Office of Special Counsel; Solis did not.

House Republicans have argued that the incidents are evidence that administration officials have run afoul of laws restricting political activities in the past, so the new office is deserving of extra scrutiny.

The White House maintains there is no evidence that officials in the political office have done anything wrong, and say linking the two is tenuous since it was not established until 2014 — two years after the incidents occured.