Kushner loses access to top-secret intelligence, three sources tell @politico. https://t.co/Y49OcLOR2L
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) February 27, 2018
If this is an attempt to compartmentalize Young Jared from the impeding Mueller threat, I’d think it was at least a year late and several hundred million dollars short…
Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access.
Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.…
The memo was not signed by chief of staff John Kelly, but it comes as the retired Marine general and other top White House aides are grappling with the fallout of a scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, which revealed that dozens of White House aides had yet to receive permanent clearances but nonetheless had access to some of the country’s deepest secrets….
Friday’s decision is the first change to the clearance process instituted in the wake of the Porter debacle that will directly affect Kushner, who serves as a senior adviser to Trump and has until now had access to the president’s daily brief, the most highly-classified document that Trump sees.
“He cannot see the PDB, not a chance,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security law and clearances. “He no longer has access to a range of intelligence information that ordinarily someone in his position and somebody with his responsibilities would normally be privy to in order to perform their functions.”
Moss said Kushner and others will be debriefed by officials in the White House security office, an event scheduled to take place Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. “They’re going to give him a list, ‘Here’s what you’ve been debriefed from, you’ve been debriefed from this program and that compartment, you no longer have any access to it, and any breach of that would be a serious security violation and a possible criminal issue.’”…
My emphasis. It’s not you, Mr. Kushner — this is happening to everybody. Regulations!
Per CNN:
… The White House has refused to detail the status of Kushner’s clearance. In a statement, Kushner’s attorney Abbe Lowell wrote: “Mr. Kushner has done more than what is expected of him in this process.”
“Those involved in the process again have confirmed that there are dozens of people at Mr. Kushner’s level whose process is delayed, that it is not uncommon for these clearance reviews to take this long in a new administration, and that the current backlogs are now being addressed,” Lowell wrote. “No concerns were raised about Mr. Kushner’s application. As General Kelly himself said, the new clearance policy will not affect Mr. Kushner’s ability to continue to do the very important work he has been assigned by the President.”
Kushner is accepting the decision about his security clearance and “will not ask for special permission” from the President, one person familiar with situation says…
Russiagate Open Thread: Jared’s Security Clearance “Downgraded”Post + Comments (151)