Even though the Trump administration has refused to provide Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s security clearance files to the House Oversight Committee, they appear to have gotten them anyway.
According to a confidential source in the White House, the Oversight Committee was given the documents by a staffer who now could be under fire for leaking the documents.
This was confirmed by a senior Democratic staff person involved in handling the confidential documents for the committee.
This new development could be significant in many ways. The Trump administration has been cracking down on leaks, which has plagued the White House ever since Trump took office.
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But this shows that even as Trump and his aides attempt to withhold crucial information from Democratic investigators in the House, they will not always be successful. This will greatly help the House committees — run by Democrats — who are beginning to probe every aspect of Donald Trump’s life and business affairs.
Earlier this week the White House had rejected Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings’ request for all of the documents in the possession of the White House that were used to determine if Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were to be granted security clearances.
According to the new report, the House Oversight Committee in early February obtained leaked documents that explain in detail the process used to grant security clearances to members of White House staff.
These documents include files from 2017 and 2018 that explain how both Kushner and Ivanka were granted their security clearances over the objections of U.S. security officials.
Reportedly two staffers on the Oversight Committee said: “the documents are part of the puzzle that we would be asking for from the White House, so we appreciate having this upfront.”
According to the new report, “the documents leaked to the Oversight Committee provide detailed information on the timeline for how Kushner’s and Trump’s security clearances were approved and who the people were involved in processing and the final decision.â€
One document obtained by the committee reportedly provides more details about the reasons that Kushner’s security clearance was changed from permanent to “interim” in September 2017:
According to the report:
“Per conversation with White House counsel the clearance was changed to interim Top Secret until we can confirm that the DOJ or someone else actually granted a final clearance. This action was taken out of an abundance of caution because the background investigation has not been completed.”
One of the leaked documents, dated February 23, 2018 offers this bit of intriguing information:
“Clearance downgraded to Interim Secret per COS (chief of staff John Kelly) direction.”
Donald Trump Will Not Succeed in Hiding Public Information
Even though Donald Trump will do all he can to prevent the American public from seeing what has been going on in his White House, he will not be successful. There are too many other people who truly care about the country and its security, which Donald Trump does not.
This new report also shows that the Democrats in charge of House committees that are investigating Trump and his administration will be successful. They will persevere and not give up as they fight to obtain the information they need to do their jobs of providing oversight over Trump’s corrupt executive branch.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
