Tag: white house security clearances
New Report Reveals Reasons Kushner Is Viewed As Security Risk

New Report Reveals Reasons Kushner Is Viewed As Security Risk

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

As many have suspected, Jared Kushner is a senior White House official described in documents from the House Oversight Committee that detail testimony of a career administration official who has identified serious lapses and vulnerabilities in the current security clearance process, according to a new report from the Washington Post.

The son-in-law and top aide to President Donald Trump has come under scrutiny for failing to pass the initial security clearance review. Multiple reports have found that he was only granted a clearance in the end when the president himself overruled everyone else who had refused to clear him.

Confirmation that Kushner is “Senior White House Official 1” in the committee’s documents reveals that he was turned down for serious concerns about the following vulnerabilities:

  • Susceptibility to foreign influence
  • Private business interests
  • Personal conduct

The committee’s newest leads in the investigation arose from whistleblower Tricia Newbold in the White House’s personnel security office. She said she was concerned that many of her determinations that employees were ineligible for security clearances had been overturned outside of the normal process. She said that at least 25 security clearance decisions had been overruled, including that of “Senior White House Official 1.”

Though Newbold has alleged that she has been mistreated at work because of her objections, she continues to work in the office.

We do not yet have more details about what precisely raised red flags in the personnel security office about Kushner. However, public reporting offers many possible explanations. First, Kushner had extensive foreign contacts that he did not initially report in his application for a security clearance — contacts which include his infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election. He also has a concerning relationship with the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. In a combination of both foreign contacts and personal business relationships, Kushner may also have been flagged because the government of Qatar appears to have helped bail out one of his most troubled properties.

 

 

 

Republican Brushes Off White House Approval Of ‘Serious’ Security Risks

Republican Brushes Off White House Approval Of ‘Serious’ Security Risks

When it comes to safeguarding national security at Trump’s White House, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) seems content if a handful of very serious security risks obtain security clearance at the White House.

On Monday morning, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), chair of the House Oversight Committee, revealed allegations from a White House whistleblower who said at least 25 individuals received security clearance despite disqualifying issues involving foreign influence, conflicts of interest, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct.

The whistleblower, Tricia Newbold, is an 18-year veteran of both Republican and Democratic administrations who reached out to Congress in order to “address the national security risks she has been witnessing over the past two years.”

Jordan, the committee’s ranking Republican, isn’t disputing Newbold’s allegations. In a nine-page memo released by the Republican committee staff Monday afternoon, he whines about behind-the-scenes process issues, but says he takes the “allegations at face value,” despite not being able to independently verify them.

Nonetheless, Jordan seems to be trying to shrug off the allegations as much ado about nothing.

“Ms. Newbold testified that only 4-5 of her unfavorable 25 adjudications were for ‘very serious reasons,'” Jordan says. Out of 5,000 applications, Jordan seems to say granting security clearance to four or five people who shouldn’t have it isn’t that big a deal. Since “only” five of her very serious concerns were overruled, “Ms. Newbold’s concerns seem overblown,” he concludes.

It’s a dramatic change for the party that was obsessed with national security risks, real or imagined, in 2016. Trump and his fellow Republicans relentlessly claimed that Hillary Clinton did not take national security protocols seriously enough and was therefore unfit to be president.

Now, however, stories continue to emerge that Trump and his administration are deliberately ignoring national security risks. Prior to Newbold coming forward, it was reported that Trump personally approved security clearance for his daughter Ivanka Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, overruling the advice of intelligence agencies like the CIA.

And the Republican response to the White House entrusting national security secrets to people who for “very serious reasons” should not have them, is to call the threat “overblown.”

Trump has demonstrated a pattern of disregarding and even openly disrespecting the advice and information from the U.S. intelligence community. He has publicly undermined its conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election, saying on several occasions that he believes Russia’s denials instead.

Now an alarming pattern is emerging of Trump’s White House repeatedly choosing to share the country’s most sensitive information with people who are deemed a risk to national security. Instead of demanding explanations and accountability, congressional Republicans are once again making it clear they don’t care.

Published with permission of The American Independent.

IMAGE: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee.

New Report: Kushner May Have Lied To Congress About Security Clearance

New Report: Kushner May Have Lied To Congress About Security Clearance

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

With the investigatory power of the House of Representatives, Democrats have a long list of probes of the Trump administration that they plan to pursue. For many, the White House’s shady behavior around security clearances — particularly for President Donald Trump’s family — is near the top of the list.

And according to a new report from PunditFact on Tuesday, it appears there is significant evidence suggesting Jared Kushner may have already lied to Congress about his security clearance application — which could constitute a crime. PunditFact noted that it came across a key discrepancy when reviewing his past statements on the matter.

Kushner’s security clearance first raised suspicions because he initially turned it in without listing any foreign contacts — of which he had more than 100.

PunditFact noted:

While Kushner was prompt in notifying investigators about his omission, it appears he only gave the FBI a list of foreign contacts after reports in the press revealed his failure to do so.

In a statement to Congress, however, Kushner created a different impression.

“I provided a list of those contacts in the normal course, before my background investigation interview, and prior to any inquiries or media reports about my form,” Kushner said.

On April 6, 2017, the New York Times published a report with the headline “Kushner Omitted Meeting With Russians on Security Clearance Forms.” CNN matched the New York Times later that day with a report titled, “Kushner hasn’t yet detailed foreign contacts for security clearance.”

However, PunditFact noted that at least two reports found that Kushner didn’t actually update his list of foreign contacts until mid-May of 2017, well after the press raised questions about it. If he was purposely trying to deceive Congress about this matter, he could be guilty of a federal crime — the same crime charged against Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump ally Roger Stone.

The report also noted that even at Kushner’s reported revisions in May, the president’s son-in-law didn’t reveal the infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer promising dirt on Hillary Clinton in June 2016. He reportedly disclosed it in June 2017, when reporters began to dig up information about it and Donald Trump Jr. subsequently released the details of the meeting.