Kelly may be a former four-star general, but Jared Kushner is protected by five-star nepotism. Despite a policy that cuts others off from classified information if their security waiver hasn’t yet come through, Jared Kushner continues to read whatever he wants, from Trump’s otherwise unread daily briefing, to the details of military operations, without restriction. And it seems like it’s going to stay that way.
Kelly does not plan to recommend to the president that he grant Kushner a waiver, but he is unlikely to resign if Trump ultimately decides to do so, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
The fact that several members of the West Wing were still operating on interim clearance came to light only after all the shenanigans around multiple-wife-beater Rob Porter came to light. In Porter’s case, it was clear that the expedited FBI assessment was actually completed within a few months of Trump entering the White House. It was only a repeated insistence that “no” was not an acceptable answer, and repeatedly sending the report back to the FBI, that allowed the White House to claim that Porter’s clearance was incomplete.
Which brings up the most important issue … why doesn’t Kushner have clearance? For workers at defense contractors, getting clearance can be an extended process, but members of an incoming White House staff are given priority. There’s nothing magic about the clearance process. It doesn’t take a year, or two years, to grow from a seed. It’s simply a matter of some hours from FBI personnel, and when it’s White House staff, they put in those hours quickly.
Somewhere, right now, there is a file containing the FBI’s assessment of Jared Kushner’s security risk. Very likely that file is sitting in the White House. Very likely, John Kelly—and others—have seen it. Because if there were not problems, there is no way that Jared Kushner would still be on interim clearance.
Some Trump officials might be on interim clearance simply because they haven’t been there that long. After all, Trump’s White House team has seen a record level of turnover. But with Kushner, he’s not only been there from day one, it was obvious that Kushner would play a role in Trump’s White House even before the election. Someone has been trying to justify handing secure documents to Jared Kushner for well over a year—but they haven’t been able to do so.
Of course, the control of security clearances in the White House falls to the White House personnel security office. They could ignore any horrors in Kushner’s past, or present, and issue a clearance no matter how much smoke is coming from his FBI file. Only …
The issues surrounding Kushner’s security clearance ratcheted up when Kelly learned in the fall that the White House security officer was unlikely to green light a permanent security clearance for Kushner any time soon as a result of information received from the FBI.
That the White House security officer is saying no, despite all the pressure to say years, suggests that there’s more than a minor fire burning inside that folder. More even than the many reasons of which the public is already aware. The FBI has made it blazingly clear that Jared Kushner should not be allowed access to classified information.
In fact, if Kushner is going to get big boy clearance, it seems like it’s going to come just one way.
Trump has a better understanding of the wide-ranging extent of his power over the clearance process, aides say, which is virtually absolute. Through his executive power, he could solve Kushner’s clearance headache with the stroke of a pen.
And yet, Kushner is still out there, reading those daily reports and wondering which information fed to which world despot can best bail him out of his soaring debts and his looming billion dollar disaster.
Kelly knows that the FBI has given such a severe warning that the White House security office has declared they won’t clear Kushner. And yet, last week Kelly issued a rah-rah memo expressing his “confidence” in Kushner.
Because Kelly places his own position above national security. Just like he put his friendship with Rob Porter ahead of national security. Thanks for your service, general.