If perhaps you were wondering just how big of a threat to national security the current president is, consider that his former White House counsel warned him that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was not deserving of a top-secret security clearance and could be a risk to U.S. national security, according to a startling new report from Axios:
“On Feb. 23, 2018, White House counsel Don McGahn sent a two-page memo to Chief of Staff John Kelly arguing that Jared Kushner’s security clearance needed to be downgraded, the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt reports in his forthcoming book, ‘Donald Trump v. The United States.’
“Schmidt reports directly from the confidential McGahn memo for the first time, describing how Kelly had serious concerns about granting Kushner a top-secret clearance in response to a briefing he had received related to the routine FBI investigation into Kushner’s background.”
At the time, Kelly was serving as White House Chief of Staff, which suggests he likely briefed President Trump on McGahn’s memo. But despite that and other warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies, Trump later acted unilaterally and gave Kushner — who serves as a senior adviser to the president — the top-secret clearance that should have been denied him based on the information provided by McGahn and other departments.
Kelly had already restricted Kushner’s access to the president’s daily briefing (PDB) because he worried that sources and methods used by U.S. intelligence to compile the PDB could potentially be compromised by Kushner.
McGahn was specific regarding why he was recommending that Kushner not be granted a top-secret clearance until other issues could be resolved:
“The information you were briefed on one week ago and subsequently relayed to me, raises serious additional concerns about whether this individual ought to retain a top security clearance until such issues can be investigated and resolved,
“Interim secret is the highest clearance that I can concur until further information is received.”
Kushner is known to have business connections to nations that may be hostile to the United States, including China and Russia. He also is known to be closely aligned with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who has been accused of ordering the gruesome assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Trump administration is a threat to U.S. national security and must be removed from office this November. If we don’t rid ourselves of them, the United States may soon become little more than a satellite of countries that both Kushner and Trump share ties with.