Trump overruled security concerns to give Ivanka top-secret clearance
Ivanka Trump only has a security clearance because Trump overruled recommendations from senior administration officials.
The White House Presidential Personnel Office raised concerns about granting Ivanka Trump a top-secret security clearance after seeing her FBI conducted background check.
Yet, according to a new report from CNN, Trump overruled their advice and demanded his daughter be given the clearance, which allows her access to the most sensitive government secrets — the latest instance of Trump putting national security at risk to give his own family members power.
CNN’s report comes after the New York Times broke the news that Trump similarly ignored concerns from the U.S. intelligence community in order to grant his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance.
Trump — along with Ivanka, Kushner’s wife — then lied to the American people about Trump’s role in the security clearance process. Trump denied having any role in Kushner or Ivanka receiving their clearances, while Ivanka told ABC News that her dad had “no involvement” in her or her husband’s security clearance approval either.
EXCLUSIVE: Ivanka Trump says she and her husband Jared Kushner received no special treatment from her father when obtaining their top security clearances.
"The president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband's clearance, zero.” https://t.co/88dUizY8Ht pic.twitter.com/MsanC4qzQC
— ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2019
House Democrats are now probing the process by which Kushner received his security clearance despite his having lied on his security clearance forms and the objections raised by the intelligence community.
Yet the White House is attempting to stonewall the investigation by refusing a request for documents on the Kushner security clearance process from House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD).
The blatant attempt to stave off legitimate congressional oversight could lead to yet more legal trouble for the White House, which could face subpoenas from the House.
It also begs the question, if the White House feels Trump did nothing wrong, why not turn over the documents?
What do they have to hide?
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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