Trump Ordered Officials To Give Jared Kushner Top-Secret Security Clearance
Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images
By Josh Nathan-Kazis March 1, 2019
President Trump overruled intelligence officials last year who raised concerns about Jared Kushner’s security clearance, ordering former chief of staff John Kelly to give top secret clearance to Kushner, the New York Times revealed in an explosive report on February 28.
The Times report was based on contemporaneous memos written by Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn. Kelly wrote that Trump had “ordered” him to give the high-level clearance to Kushner. McGahn wrote that the C.I.A. had raised concerns about Kushner, and that McGahn himself had advised against giving the clearance to Kushner.
Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell have all said at various times that Trump was not involved in the process to award Kushner the clearance. The Times report does not detail what the intelligence community’s concerns about Kushner were, but says that they were related to contacts in Israel, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Kushner has been deeply involved with the Trump administration effort to develop a new Middle East peace plan. He is also reported to be close to Mohammad Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
