President pressured staff to grant security clearance to Ivanka Trump

[MelissaB]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to grant his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance against their recommendations, three people familiar with the matter told CNN.

The President's crusade to grant clearances to his daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, rankled West Wing officials.

While Trump has the legal authority to grant clearances, most instances are left up to the White House personnel security office, which determines whether a staffer should be granted one after the FBI has conducted a background check. But after concerns were raised by the personnel office, Trump pushed Kelly and McGahn to make the decision on his daughter and son-in-law's clearances so it did not appear as if he was tainting the process to favor his family, sources told CNN. After both refused, Trump granted them their security clearances.

The development comes on the heels of Thursday's New York Times report that President Trump ordered Kelly to grant Kushner a top secret security clearance despite concerns raised by intelligence officials. The President has denied he had any role in Kushner receiving a clearance.



Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics/ivanka-trump-security-clearance-pressure/index.html

[CatMor]

1. I'm surprised trump himself could get a security clearance

[riversedge]

6. It should be revoked based on his behavior

[Haggis for Breakfast]

2. Congress has GOT to strengthen the laws prohibiting nepotism.

The current system ignores the importance of national security being the over-riding concern when it comes to granting who receives these all-important clearances.

Simply being related to the CinC is NO BASIS for granting these ignorant, arrogant, naive people from seeing top secret materials. Lord only knows what damage Barbie Trump and Jar-Jar have created by being permitted to see such information and data.

[jmowreader]

5. What do you have against Jar Jar Binks?

By human standards (Gungans are probably different - at the end of The Phantom Menace he led the Gungan Army to a great victory), Jar Jar Binks was kinda dimwitted but he wasn't actively malevolent like Ivanka's husband is.

[Evolve Dammit]

3. Investigate the other 40 or so that were also recommended by career staff for denial, and

the pressures to make those clearances be ultimately approved. God, the placement of Drumph's ilk at high levels has to be undone. At this point, we're on the second and third waves of appointees and judicial nominees.

[jmowreader]

4. Y'know...

When sexist parents tell their attractive daughters to "shake your money maker," normally said thing being shaken does not have TOP SECRET stamped at the top and bottom of every page.

All kidding aside, Trump may have fucked up in ways the Republican Party won't be able to gloss over. So far they seem, at least in public, like they're okay with the sexual deviance, the insanity and the dishonesty...but they are NOT going to be able to be okay with Trump's kids selling classified information, at least if they want to continue to have a party.