Trump son-in-law, adviser Kushner loses access to top intelligence briefing: sources

By Mark Hosenball and Warren Strobel

 

FILE PHOTO - White House senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind U.S. United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley before the start of a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East at the United Nations in New York, U.S., February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, has lost access to the most valued U.S. intelligence report, the President's Daily Brief, as the White House imposes greater discipline on access to secrets, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

 

Kushner, who has been operating under an interim security clearance for about a year, had his access to the highly classified briefing cut off in the past few weeks, said the sources.

 

A third official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recently passed new information to White House Counsel Don McGahn that led to the slowing or stopping of Kushner's pending clearance application. The nature of that information was not clear.

 

It also is unclear if and when Kushner's access to the briefing, known as the PDB, which requires clearance higher than the Top Secret level, would be reinstated.

 

Kushner, a wealthy New York businessman married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, has not received his full security clearance because of his extensive financial links, which have taken a long time to examine. He has revised his security clearance form, called an SF-86, several times.

 

A White House spokesman for Kushner did not immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment. Trump ignored reporters' shouted questions about Kushner and his clearance at an event on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Kushner's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement: "Mr. Kushner has done more than what is expected of him in this process."

 

"My inquiries ... have confirmed that there are a dozen or more people at Mr. Kushner's level whose process is delayed, that it is not uncommon for this process to take this long in a new administration, that the current backlogs are being addressed, and no concerns were raised about Mr. Kushner's application," Lowell said.

 

Trump's White House has been grappling with the security clearance issue since it emerged this month that staff secretary Rob Porter worked for Trump for a year with a temporary clearance despite accusations by his two former wives of domestic abuse. Porter has maintained his innocence.

 

The President's Daily Brief is distributed to a small number of top-level U.S. officials. It includes highly classified intelligence analysis, information about CIA covert operations and reports from the most sensitive U.S. sources or those shared by allied intelligence agencies.

 

New security clearance policies announced by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly "will not affect Mr. Kushner's ability to continue to do the very important work he has been assigned by the President," Lowell said.

 

But one of the U.S. officials who said Kushner had lost access to the daily brief said that without it, his role in some major policy deliberations, including on China and Russia, could be limited.

 

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Kushner has had a broad portfolio in the White House. He has taken the lead on Trump's plan to forge a Middle East peace deal and led the Office of American Innovation, which is intended to modernize and downsize government programs.

 

Kelly, whose handling of the Porter case was heavily criticized, decreed on Feb. 16 that any interim security clearances for staffers whose background investigations had been pending since June 1 or before would be discontinued within a week.

 

A source familiar with the matter said the situation had caused tensions between Kushner and Kelly.

 

On Friday, Trump said he would leave it to Kelly to settle the security clearance dispute with Kushner, but left little doubt he wanted the case settled in a way that allowed Kushner to keep his job. As president, Trump could grant Kushner a full security clearance on his own authority.

 

White House spokesman Sarah Sanders would not comment on whether Kushner's security clearance issues had been resolved.

 

"He's a valued member of the team and he will continue to do the important work that he's been doing since he started in the administration," she told a briefing.

 

A top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to McGahn and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday, asking for more information on the number of White House officials with interim clearances.

 

The letter by Senator Chuck Grassley, the committee's Republican chairman, and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, suggested bipartisan concern over the issue.

 

Citing reports that dozens of officials are operating with interim clearances, the two lawmakers wrote: "If true, this raises significant concerns that ineligible individuals, who hold positions of public trust, may have access to sensitive or classified information."

 

(Additional reporting by John Walcott, Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-02-28

Kushner and Ivanka are textbook examples of why Nepotism laws exist and why they are a good idea.

 

Send them both packing ASAP.

Kushner's Russian ties and Israeli ties are a threat to American interests. He is able to use information for personal gain whilst selling out the country. He should not have any security clearance until he has fully divested his businesses and resolved his conflicts of interest.

"Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation."

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178

I can't imagine why there would be any hesitation in granting the President's son-in-law top-security clearance? But it might be easier to just email the PDB directly to the Kremlin?

 

Seriously, this clueless idiot is compromised 12 ways to Sunday. Mueller will roast him, and like his father, Charles (Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering), and he will look good in orange.

 

How to Understand Kushner’s ‘Back-Channel’

 

Last month, the Washington Post and New York Times reported that during the presidential transition Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to discuss establishing a direct line of secure communication from the White House to the Kremlin—possibly run out of Russian diplomatic facilities. The Washington Post report left the motivation for the potential back-channel vague, while the New York Times said it intended to allow short-lived National Security Adviser Michael Flynn—who was reportedly present at the meeting with Kislyak as well—a direct line to Russia to discuss Syria policy “and other security issues.”

 

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/06/how-to-understand-kushners-back-channel-215232

 

27 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

"Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation."

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178

So it was not just Kushner who was the benefactor of a rushed and deeply flawed interim security evaluation and clearance system but the whole White House nominated team?

 

So as far as Jared's concerned, it's really not as bad as it looks.

But it's the only intelligence he had.  What will he do now that he's lost it?  Maybe try to learn a first language with the extra time this will give him?

Intelligence briefing in the white house ?? 

35 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

What will he do now that he's lost it?

 

1. Jared Kushner is responsible for negotiating peace in the Middle East.
2. Jared Kushner is responsible for solving America’s opioid epidemic. (Kellyanne Conway may have taken this over?)
3. Jared Kushner is responsible for diplomacy with Mexico.
4. Jared Kushner is responsible for diplomacy with China.
5. Jared Kushner is responsible for reforming care for veterans.
6. Jared Kushner is responsible for reforming the criminal justice system.
7. Jared Kushner is responsible for reinventing the entire government and making it work like a business.
 

 

And he's amazingly not taking a salary.

30 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

1. Jared Kushner is responsible for negotiating peace in the Middle East.
2. Jared Kushner is responsible for solving America’s opioid epidemic. (Kellyanne Conway may have taken this over?)
3. Jared Kushner is responsible for diplomacy with Mexico.
4. Jared Kushner is responsible for diplomacy with China.
5. Jared Kushner is responsible for reforming care for veterans.
6. Jared Kushner is responsible for reforming the criminal justice system.
7. Jared Kushner is responsible for reinventing the entire government and making it work like a business.
 

 

And he's amazingly not taking a salary.

So.... pay rate in accordance with usefulness.

55 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

Intelligence briefing in the white house ?? 

I can well believe that.  All of Trump's intelligence is in his briefs.

Imagine if this was the Obamas and Clintons, they would have been roasted by Trump supporters from day one.

The FBI can't complete the background checks of Kushner, Ivanka, Hicks and others since they are still being investigated by Mueller!

Wendi Deng gets around...Rupert Murdoch, Tony Blair, Vlad the Impaler, Ivanka and Jared.

 

Jared Kushner Is China’s Trump Card

 

In early 2017, shortly after Jared Kushner moved into his new office in the West Wing of the White House, he began receiving guests. One visitor who came more than once was Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, a veteran diplomat with a postgraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. When, during previous Administrations, Cui had visited the White House, his hosts received him with a retinue of China specialists and note-takers. Kushner, President Trump’s thirty-seven-year-old son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, preferred smaller gatherings.

.

.

.

 

Priestap and Kushner discussed some of Kushner’s contacts, including Wendi Deng Murdoch, the ex-wife of Rupert Murdoch. Kushner and Ivanka Trump had known her for about a decade, and she was a regular guest at their Washington home. U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials have long speculated about Wendi Murdoch’s ties to the Chinese government. Internally, some Chinese officials spoke about her in ways that suggested they had influence over her, the former senior official, who was briefed on the intelligence, said. Other officials said that the intelligence was inconclusive.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/01/29/jared-kushner-is-chinas-trump-card

 

Photo of Wendi and Ivanka is real, Vlad was photoshopped in.

If Kushner goes who's next in line, Stephen Miller?   He'd really have to be careful not to pack his Nazi uniform when he traveled to Israel or his sheet and hood if he went to any African country and be careful not to utter the word "gook" when traveling in Asia.!

13 minutes ago, wayned said:

who's next in line, Stephen Miller?   He'd really have to be careful not to pack his Nazi uniform when he traveled to Israel

Stephen Miller was raised in the Jewish faith. His mother's family (famous Philadelphia retailers, the Glosser family) emigrated from Belarus in the early 1900's.

 

I doubt he is a closet nazi, or would encounter issues traveling to Israel, again.

 

 

Even without security clearance, doubt FiL will fail to disclose and share sensitive information. Far as I recall, POTUS can legally decide to override such limitations anyway.

34 minutes ago, Morch said:

Far as I recall, POTUS can legally decide to override such limitations anyway.

 

Yes, but it might look bad, given that he already said "it was up to Gen. Kelly".

 

 

11 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Yes, but it might look bad, given that he already said "it was up to Gen. Kelly".

 

 

 

I dunno that "it might look bad" figures much in Trump's decision making. As for Kelly, there's a news story alleging he might quit (or be fired) every now and then. Things which seem obvious and rational (such as not giving security clearance to someone as dodgy as Kushner) don't always go as expected when it comes to this administration.

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

Stephen Miller was raised in the Jewish faith. His mother's family (famous Philadelphia retailers, the Glosser family) emigrated from Belarus in the early 1900's.

 

I doubt he is a closet nazi, or would encounter issues traveling to Israel, again.

 

 

You are 100% correct, he is not a closet Nazi, he is wide open about it. He is extreme right wing white supremacist filth. I was raised in the catholic faith, what has that got to do with it.......nothing, I had no choice, I cannot stand the Catholic Church. What makes you think Miller is some sort of faithful follower of the Jewish faith? If you are 'brown' or 'off white' he hates you.

6 minutes ago, Andaman Al said:

You are 100% correct, he is not a closet Nazi, he is wide open about it. He is extreme right wing white supremacist filth. I was raised in the catholic faith, what has that got to do with it.......nothing, I had no choice, I cannot stand the Catholic Church. What makes you think Miller is some sort of faithful follower of the Jewish faith? If you are 'brown' or 'off white' he hates you.

 

It's possible to be a racist without being a Nazi, though.

 

1 minute ago, Morch said:

 

It's possible to be a racist without being a Nazi, though.

 

Yes it is.

 

1 hour ago, Morch said:

Even without security clearance, doubt FiL will fail to disclose and share sensitive information. Far as I recall, POTUS can legally decide to override such limitations anyway.

 Now that would make for an interesting dynamic with Kelly.

It only took WH stable geniuses 13 months to do what 70% of Americans, incl the FBI, CIA knew should have been done on day 1.  Kushner has been looking at top secret data for 400 days - trying to find ways to get his stupid overpayment for 666 5th Ave. paid for, and other nefarious actions that only he, his wife and dad-in-law know about.

 

Kushner has a gargantuan balloon payment due on the 666 property in December of this year.  Will be make a deal with the Chinese, or the Saudis, or the Iranians, or the Russians?  Or maybe he'll get bailed out by Azerbani mafia - nefarious folks who are connected to the Iranian Secret Police agents, and who have met socially with Ivanka, when she was traveling with Putin's daughter.   

 

I hope Mueller's team look into that can of worms.  

excerpt from 
ny.curbed.com/2017/8/31/16233330/kushner-companies-666-fifth-avenue-finances

 

Regarding the mortgage for 666 Fifth Avenue: “The company still holds half of a $1.2 billion mortgage, on which it hasn’t paid a cent. The full amount is due in February 2019.”

 

“After a refinancing, the deed to 666 Fifth sits in an escrow account, ready to be seized by lenders in a default, an action indicating their trust has grown thin.”

 

On the new condo-ified plans for the building: “a $4 billion construction loan and a business model that assumed the condos would sell at the aggressive price of $9,000 per square foot !”

17 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

"Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in a memo sent Friday that their clearances would be downgraded to the Secret level, according to three people with knowledge of the situation."

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/27/jared-kushner-security-clearance-downgrade-427178

The problem is not the individuals themselves. It's the inability of the government to get the clearances done in a timely matter.  It doesn't take a year to do this.  The agency running things is inept as is most of the civil service bureaucracy.

 

3 minutes ago, Trouble said:

The problem is not the individuals themselves. It's the inability of the government to get the clearances done in a timely matter.  It doesn't take a year to do this.  The agency running things is inept as is most of the civil service bureaucracy.

You seem to think that, if there's a problem with security clearance, ...that it can be cleared up over time.  Not necessarily so, and if it happens, it's rare.  It's like changing the color of your eyes.  

If there's are serious blemishes on a person's history, then no amount of time is going to make those things go away.

 

I only wish Trump himself weren't immune for sec. clearances, because he obviously wouldn't be able to get past first base.  So, Americans are stuck with a loose-lip POS at the helm.

 

as for Kushner.  Everyone thinks he will now be kept from from seeing top secret intel.  Not so.  Trump relishes in giving his middle-finger salute to Americans who aren't his fans.  So, Trump will go ahead and let Kushner read and listen-in to whatever the treasonous punk wants.  

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

It only took WH stable geniuses 13 months to do what 70% of Americans, incl the FBI, CIA knew should have been done on day 1.  Kushner has been looking at top secret data for 400 days

Actually congress passed the anti nepotism law after JFK appointed RFK as his attorney general.  The supreme court lifted the ban to allow DT to have his daughter and Kushner work in the white house.  So the bunch of genus's at Supreme Court actually started this mess!

16 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Jared Kushner is responsible for solving America’s opioid epidemic. (Kellyanne Conway may have taken this over?)

 

To the contrary, Kellyanne is probably the reason some people started taking opioids.

 

 

Projection of what Kushner probably says about the crisis issues he's in charge of:

 

Opioid crisis:

There's a problem. We've got to deal with it.  It's sad people are dying. What should we do?"

 

Middle East:

There's a problem. We've got to deal with it. Where's my bail-out for my 666 property? Maybe Qatari or Saudis can bail me out."

 

Mexico:

There's a problem. We've got to deal with it.  But I need Mexicans to mow my lawn. Why are they not happy when my dad-in-law tells them to pay 33 billion for that wall?"

 

China:

There's a problem. We've got to deal with it. Where's my bail-out for my 666 property?"

 

8 hours ago, Trouble said:

The problem is not the individuals themselves. It's the inability of the government to get the clearances done in a timely matter.  It doesn't take a year to do this.  The agency running things is inept as is most of the civil service bureaucracy.

 

No, there are no clearances done for them because they will not be cleared. really not very difficult.