Thread: Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overrule

Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overruled

Jared Kushner was rejected for a top secret clearance by 2 career security specialists, but their supervisor overruled them and approved him, say sources.

Jared Kushner at a meeting in the Cabinet Room at the White House on Aug. 1, 2018.Oliver Contreras / Getty Images file

Jan. 24, 2019, 8:14 PM EST / Updated Jan. 24, 2019, 9:25 PM EST

By Laura Strickler, Ken Dilanian and Peter Alexander

WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner's application for a top secret clearance was rejected by two career White House security specialists after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential foreign influence on him — but their supervisor overruled the recommendation and approved the clearance, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The official, Carl Kline, is a former Pentagon employee who was installed as director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President in May 2017. Kushner's was one of at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources said. They said the number of rejections that were overruled was unprecedented — it had happened only once in the three years preceding Kline's arrival.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information, said the Trump White House attracted many people with untraditional backgrounds who had complicated financial and personal histories, some of which raised red flags.

Kushner's FBI background check identified questions about his family's business, his foreign contacts, his foreign travel and meetings he had during the campaign, the sources said, declining to be more specific.

Kushner given top secret clearance over officials' objections


The White House office only determines eligibility for secret and top secret clearances. As a very senior official, Kushner was seeking an even higher designation that would grant him access to what is known as "sensitive compartmented information," or SCI. That material makes up the government's most sensitive secrets, including transcripts of intercepted foreign communications, CIA source reporting and other intelligence seemingly important for Kushner, whose job portfolio covers the Mideast and Mexico.

The CIA is the agency that decides whether to grant SCI clearance to senior White House officials after conducting a further background check.

After Kline overruled the White House security specialists and recommended Kushner for a top secret clearance, Kushner's file then went to the CIA for a ruling on SCI.

After reviewing the file, CIA officers who make clearance decisions balked, two of the people familiar with the matter said. One called over to the White House security division, wondering how Kushner got even a top secret clearance, the sources said. Top secret information is defined as material that would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security if disclosed to adversaries.

The sources say the CIA has not granted Kushner clearance to review SCI material. That would mean Kushner lacks access to key intelligence unless President Trump decides to override the rules, which is the president's' prerogative. The Washington Post reported in July 2018 that Kushner was not given an "SCI" clearance. CIA spokesman Timothy Barrett said, "The CIA does not comment on individual security clearances."

"What you are reporting is what all of us feared," said Brad Moss, a lawyer who represents persons seeking security clearances. "The normal line adjudicators looked at the FBI report…saw the foreign influence concerns, but were overruled by the quasi-political supervisor."

"We don't comment on security clearances," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said when asked for comment.

NBC News was unable to reach Carl Kline for comment. Kushner's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had no comment.
The sources said they did not know whether Kline was in communication with senior political White House officials. They say he overruled career bureaucrats at least 30 times, granting top secret clearances to officials in the Executive Office of the President or the White House after adjudicators working for him recommended against doing so.

Jared Kushner loses top security clearance

The reasons for denying a clearance can include debts, a criminal past or questions about foreign entanglements. Anything in a person's background that could make them vulnerable to blackmail can be a factor.

Kushner's application followed the normal path for security clearance. It passed a "suitability review" in the White House and then went to the FBI for a background investigation.

Following the FBI investigation, the case went back to the White House office of personnel security, where a career adjudicator reviewed the FBI information, including questions about foreign influence and foreign business entanglements, the sources said.

The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter, reported last February that officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.

Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage, according to the current and former officials, were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the Post reported.

On the basis of potential foreign influence, the adjudicator deemed Kushner's application "unfavorable" and handed it to a supervisor.

Rpt: Foreign officials have discussed how to manipulate Kushner

The supervisor agreed with the "unfavorable" determination and gave it to Kline, the head of the office at the time, who overruled the "unfavorable" determination and approved Kushner for "top secret" security clearance, the sources said.

"No one else gets that kind of treatment," Moss said. "My clients would get body slammed if they did that."
Sources also told NBC News career employees of the White House office disagreed with other steps Kline took, including ceasing credit checks on security clearance applicants. The sources said Kline cited a data breach at the credit reporting firm Equifax.

Kline is the subject of an October 2018 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint viewed by NBC News that was filed by Tricia Newbold, a current employee. Newbold has a rare form of dwarfism and the complaint alleges Kline discriminated against her because of her height.

Her complaint states that in December 2017, Kline moved security files to a new location which was too high and out of her reach and told her, "You have people, have them get you the files you need; or you can ask me."



Tricia Newbold has filed an EEOC complaint against Carl Kline, alleging he discriminated against her because of her height.Her attorney, Ed Passman, told NBC News, "My client has been subjected to ongoing discrimination by a ruthless supervisor who was destroying the personnel security division by granting security clearances over the objections of civil servant recommendations."

In a letter to her family obtained by NBC News, Newbold described Kline's behavior towards her as "aggressive," involving "emotional and psychological abuse" starting in July 2017, a few months after he took over the office.

In the same letter, Newbold wrote that she also had serious concerns about how Kline "continuously changes policy" and makes "reckless security judgments". She added that Kline's decisions "if disclosed, can cause embarrassment and negative attention to the administration."

Newbold raised concerns about Kline's behavior with her second level supervisor regarding his "hostility and integrity" according to the EEOC complaint.

The EEOC confirmed to Newbold’s attorney that an investigation of her claims was conducted. He is now waiting to hear if his client will be granted a hearing.

The House Oversight Committee, now run by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D.-Md., announced yesterday that it is digging into how Kushner obtained his security clearance.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/officials-rejected-jared-kushner-top-secret-security-clearance-were-overruled-n962221

House Democrats probe how Jared Kushner got security clearance

The probe was launched "in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration," said Rep. Elijah Cummings.



Jared Kushner at the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.Lior Mizrahi / Getty Images

Jan. 23, 2019, 11:02 AM EST

By Ken Dilanian

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the White House security clearance process, an inquiry that promises to put a spotlight on how President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, overcame concerns to gain access to highly classified information.

"The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a letter to the White House obtained by NBC News.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House committee investigating White House security clearancesAN. 23, 201902:27



Last February, NBC News reported that more than 130 political appointees working in the Executive Office of the President did not have permanent security clearances as of November 2017, including the president's daughter Ivanka; Kushner, her husband; and the president's top legal counsel. Kushner has since obtained a clearance, according to his lawyer, despite reports that he has been targeted for manipulation by foreign governments.

Cummings said he is seeking documents relevant to the NBC news report.

Kushner's clearance was downgraded last February after it emerged that he initially failed to submit required information on his financial disclosure form. He regained full clearance a few months later, his lawyer said, but White House and CIA officials declined to discuss the circumstances.

According to The Washington Post, Kushner was granted only "top secret" status, a designation that bars him from reviewing some of the government's most closely guarded intelligence.

In the letter, Cummings said the investigation will seek to determine "why the White House and Transition Team appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information" and "the extent to which the nation's most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them."

Last year, Cummings pointed out, John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, acknowledged "shortcomings" with the White House's security clearance process.

Kelly warned that the White House "should — and in the future, must — do better," and added that "now is the time to take a hard look at the way the White House processes clearance requests."

But the White House has said nothing about any changes made to the process, and has rebuffed congressional requests for information, Cummings said.

"For the past two years, I have sought information with other Committee Members about a series of extremely troubling incidents regarding the security clearances of some of President Trump's top aides, but the White House has refused to provide the information we requested, often ignoring our requests completely," Cummings said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings speaks to reporters at the Capitol on Jan. 4, 2019.J. Scott Applewhite / AP

fileCummings' letter seeks information about reports of security clearance issues involving multiple current and former officials, including:

• Senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner
• National security adviser John Bolton
• Former national security adviser Michael Flynn
• Flynn's son, Michael Flynn Jr.
• Former deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland
• Former White House staff secretary Robert Porter
• Former National Security Council senior director Robin Townley
• Trump's former personal assistant, John McEntee
• Former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka

Cummings said he also sent a letter to the National Rifle Association about Bolton, seeking information about his contacts with Maria Butina, an NRA member who has been charged as an unregistered agent of Russia.

Cummings said he is demanding documents relating to Kelly's review of security clearance processes in 2018, and the NBC report that 34 White House officials who had started working on the first day of the Trump administration were still working with interim security clearances as of November 2017 and that more than 130 political appointees in the Executive Office of the President were working with interim security clearances as of that date.

Cummings also asked for documents pertaining to what he said is the White violation of the SECRET Act — a law requiring the White House to submit a report to Congress by August 2018 on its procedures for adjudicating security clearances.

Cummings sent similar letters Wednesday to Vice President Mike Pence in his capacity as chair of the transition team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of State and the National Rifle Association.

House Republicans had launched an investigation into security clearances in February 2018, after questions about how Porter, who had been staff secretary, had been given access to top secret code-word information despite domestic violence allegations against him.

But the White House defied the GOP-controlled committee's requests for information and no action was taken.

Democrats have vowed to issue subpoenas if the Trump administration fails to turn over documents in response to requests from committee chairman.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...arance-n961721

Cummings: Security clearances probe 'explicitly covers' Kushner


By BRENT D. GRIFFITHS
01/24/2019 11:12 PM EST


Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on Thursday that his wide-ranging investigation into the White House's process for issuing security clearances "explicitly covers" Jared Kushner, after a new reportcharacterized the way the White House senior adviser obtained his clearance as unprecedented.

"My request letter to the White House explicitly covers Mr. Kushner, and we expect the White House to produce all of the documents and interviews we requested to determine if tonight’s breaking story is accurate," Cummings (D-Md.) said.

"The system is supposed to be a nonpartisan determination of an individual’s fitness to hold a clearance, not an ad hoc approach that overrules career experts to give the president’s family members access to our nation’s most sensitive secrets."

Kushner's application for a top secret security clearance was turned down by two career specialists who were then overruled in an unusual way by their superior, according to NBC's report.

Kushner, the president's son-in-law, was one of at least 30 cases in which former Pentagon employee Carl Kline turned down the advice of career specialists and granted top secret clearances, despite apparently concerning information existing. The report is based on two sources "familiar with the matter," which POLITICO has not independently verified.

The request for Kushner‘s clearance was hampered by his FBI background investigation, according to the report, which "identified questions about his family's business, his foreign contacts, his foreign travel and meetings he had during the campaign."

Cumming's probe, as POLITICO previously reported, also concerns a number of former administration officials including: former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russia during the transition; Rob Porter, a former White House staff secretary who resigned after multiple allegations of domestic abuse; and former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/...ushner-1125443

HOUSE COMMITTEE COULD VOTE ON PROVIDING DONALD TRUMP JR., JARED KUSHNER TESTIMONY TO ROBERT MUELLER

BY RAMSEY TOUCHBERRY ON 2/5/19 AT 10:38 AM

U.S.CONGRESS POLITIC SDONALD TRUMP JR. JARED KUSHNER

During its first meeting Wednesday morning, the House Intelligence Committee will vote whether to provide special counsel Robert Mueller with potentially damning testimony transcripts from Trump associates and administration officials, which could include the president’s eldest son and son-in-law.

The committee will vote on the “transmission of certain committee transcripts to the Department of Justice.” The move would allow Mueller to proceed with perjury charges, should an investigation by the special counsel conclude that Donald Trump, Jr. and Jared Kushner lied to Congress in answers they previously provided to the committee regarding the Russia probe. It is not yet known which transcripts will be voted on, but Democrats in the past have suggested the president's son lied to the committee.

Two former Trump confidants–Michael Cohen, the president’s former personal attorney, and Roger Stone, his longtime adviser–were charged with lying to Congress, among other things.

In July 2017, Kushner provided private testimony to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, in which he said he "did not collude" and had "hardly any" communications with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

Trump, Jr. met with investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee in September and December of 2017 to explain why he took a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign, which Kushner has said he briefly attended. In September testimony, according to The New York Times, Trump, Jr. claimed he sought to learn more about Clinton's "fitness, character or qualifications." In a later statement, the president's son changed his story, saying he met with the Russian lawyer and other Trump associates to discuss adoption policy.


(L-R) Vanessa Trump and her husband Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner watch U.S. President Donald Trump cut a cake during the inaugural Armed Services Ball at the National Building Museum January 20, 2017, in Washington, DC.PHOTO BY CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Until last week, Democrats on the intelligence committee were growing increasingly suspiciousbehind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s delay in naming GOP members to the committee. Without a full committee, the panel could not conduct official business, such as providing Mueller’s team with the transcripts. Lacking the committee’s approval, Mueller would not be able to pursue perjury charges by using the transcripts, even if his team has already obtained them.

“If they bleed into next week with no committee members, we’ll have to start thinking about what mechanism we can use so that they will not impact the investigation,” Adam Schiff, the Democratic intelligence committee chairman, told Newsweek last week. “Whether this is directed at preventing us from providing transcripts to Mueller, you’d have to ask the majority. If it is, it’s a very shortsighted tactic.”

Following his charges, including for lying to Congress over contact with Russian officials about a Trump Tower project in Moscow during the campaign, Cohen quickly flipped on the president to cooperate with Mueller. He was sentenced to three years in prison and will start his sentence March 6.

Stone, on the other hand, has remained steadfast in his support for the president, embarking on a media blitz since being indicted last month. He was warned by a federal judge last week to end his “public relations campaign” that looks more “like a book tour" than a criminal proceeding.

Stone, in prepared remarks to lawmakers, said that allegations of collusion with Russia were “nothing more than conjecture, supposition, projection, allegation, and coincidence, none of it proven by evidence or fact. I deeply resent any allegation that I would collude with the oppressive Russian state to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.”

In the seven-count indictment, Mueller alleged “a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information [WikiLeaks] had regarding the Clinton Campaign.” Stone allegedly had repeated contact with the group and relayed information to the Trump campaign.

This story has been updated to include it is not yet known which testimonies the committee will vote on.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trum...ueller-1318382

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