Breaking –> Top Justice Dept. official alerted White House two weeks ago to ongoing issues in Kushner’s security clearance. A @carolleonig @costareports @jdawsey1: exclusive https://t.co/wBiUAVltIj
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 23, 2018
Yet another shoe from the Trump Crime Cartel millipede…
… The Feb. 9 phone call from Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to White House Counsel Donald McGahn came amid growing public scrutiny of a number of administration officials without final security clearances. Most prominent among them is Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, who has had access to some of the nation’s most sensitive material for the last year while waiting for his background investigation to be completed.
A week after the call from Rosenstein, White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly announced that staffers whose clearances have not been finalized will no longer be able to view top-secret information — meaning that Kushner could stand to lose his status as early as Friday…
In his phone conversation with McGahn, Rosenstein intended to give an update on the status of Kushner’s background investigation. He did not specify the source of the information that officials were examining, the three people said.
Justice Department officials said Rosenstein did not provide any details to the White House about the matters that need to be investigated relating to Kushner.
“The Deputy Attorney General has not referenced to the White House any specific concerns relating to this individual’s security clearance process,” spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement…
There are conflicting accounts about whether Rosenstein discussed with McGahn the significance of the information and its possible impact on Kushner’s clearance. Two people said the deputy attorney general told McGahn the Justice Department had obtained important new information, suggesting it could be an obstacle to his clearance process. One other said Rosenstein did not discuss the nature of the ongoing investigation.
Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel in the Obama administration, said administration officials should view Rosenstein’s alert as a strong reason to revoke Kushner’s interim top-secret access…
Ordinarily, security clearance experts said, the failure to completely disclose all contacts would jeopardize an applicant’s chances of obtaining final clearance.
In addition, Kushner’s actions during the transition have been referenced in the guilty plea of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who admitted he lied to the FBI about contacts with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Prosecutors said Flynn was acting in consultation with a senior Trump transition official, whom people familiar with the matter have identified as Kushner…
“That sounds bad. Is that bad, Dad?”
At CPAC, this very morning:
Trump making sure everyone knows that his daughter and son-in-law don't get a salary for their work in his administration. This after a question about Kushner's security clearance – which Trump says is up to CoS Kelly.
— Ali Vitali (@alivitali) February 23, 2018
The massively in debt WH employees with no government experience and can't pass a background check are working on spec so everybody can stop worrying. https://t.co/jaeLmog7WQ
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) February 23, 2018
Russiagate Open Thread: Hey, Remember That Jared Kid?…Post + Comments (107)