The New York Times' bombshell report from Thursday on the security concerns that led the FBI and CIA to oppose giving princeling Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner a top secret clearance is still reverberating. What did those agencies know about Kushner that caused enough alarm that they would risk going up against Kushner's father- in- law and Russian asset Donald "Rump" Trump? What did then- Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn see in the intelligence agencies' analysis that caused them to oppose Kushner's clearance and, when overruled by Rump, take the unusual step of writing memos to the file memorializing their opposition? Even though he lies as easily and often as he breathes, why did Rump lie about over- ruling his own intelligence agencies (again) in order to have Kushner be able to receive the most sensitive information our government has? Here's a salient piece of the Times' reporting:
The full scope of intelligence officials’ concerns about Mr. Kushner is not known. But the clearance had been held up in part over questions from the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. about his foreign and business contacts, including those related to Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, according to multiple people familiar with the events.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Kushner was part of a group that met with a Russian lawyer who went to Trump Tower claiming to have political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. And during the presidential transition, Mr. Kushner had a meeting with the Russian ambassador at the time, Sergey I. Kislyak, and the head of a Russian state-owned bank. When he applied for a security clearance, he did not reveal those meetings.
He later made several amendments to that section of his application, known as an SF86. His aides at the time insisted he had omitted those meetings inadvertently.So, Kushner is yet another member of the Rump crime family who's demonstrating the Peter Principle in spades, as well as sharing the crime family's inherent urge to lie, deceive and use public office to line his pockets (see Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and of course Russia). Apparently, the intelligence agencies have been tracking Kushner's extracurricular business dealings for some time, including Robert Mueller's team, and know full well the "full scope" of concerns about Kushner. Kushner's at the heart of so much of the corrupt pay- to- play modus operandi of the Rump regime, with so many foreign governments likely having kompromat on him, that it would be hard to imagine that's not what Rump and his princeling are so afraid of having come to light that they would lie repeatedly to cover it up. That's why the House Oversight and Reform Committee will be looking into the mess, something that would never have happened had the Republicans maintained control of the House in last year's mid- term elections.
It would also be hard to imagine a greater security risk than this shallow grifter (except for his father- in- law, of course).
BONUS: See more takes here and here. Steve M. doesn't think the public will care.
