Rachel Maddow crushed White House chief of staff John Kelly over his flip-flop on security clearance policy as it relates to Jared Kushner.
Video:
Rachel Maddow just handed John Kelly his head on a platter. pic.twitter.com/fHXiS03wu1
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 21, 2018
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Maddow said:
This policy from White House chief of staff John Kelly seemed aimed Kushner’s forehead. It looked like he would be out of a job in the white house as of Friday R bumped down to where he doesn’t need to see anything sensitive and by the end of this week, that’s what is in the black and white document of the policy John Kelly just released but then tonight because you can’t spell chaos without O, O, something new from John Kelly put out a statement praising Jared Kushner and state stating despite this policy, he expects Jared will be just fine in his White House job. Quote, I have full confidence in Jared’s ability to continue performing his beauties in his foreign policy portfolio. What does that mean?
Nobody knows. It means that John Kelly thinks that you don’t really need a security clearance to run foreign policy in the white house. That seems unlikely or it means that John Kelly’s new crackdown on security clearances in the White House maybe isn’t going to happen. They aren’t going to change the rules. They will let guys continue to access classified information without permanent clearances. So either he can do the job without a clearance, not likely or the policy is off or I guess, one third possibility is that the president is just going to give Kushner a security clearance himself even though Kushner can’t pass his FBI background check. Why would he — you know, family. Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again, ever. Why would you do that? Anyway, those are two big developing stories now and I confess, both of them have a lot questions of how it will work out and whether the president gets to keep his children as White House officials.
Rachel Maddow nailed it. This is all about nepotism. Kelly wasn’t allowed to pass a policy that might impact one of the Trump kids. This is the biggest sign yet that Kelly is neutered. He has no real power. He is just another empty suit chief of staff who caves to the cult of Trump. To people who care about policy and national security, Kelly’s second statement is an insult.
The White House can’t make policy because the Trump family comes ahead of what’s good for the country. Maddow was right to focus on this issue, because when Trump is jeopardizing national security just because he wants his son in law who can’t pass a background check at his side.
For more discussion about Rachel Maddow join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
