Kushner Facing Questions Over Security Clearance Disclosure Form
- 7 years ago
The recent bombshell report about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, is leading to increased scrutiny on President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who also attended the gathering.
The recent bombshell report about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, is leading to increased scrutiny on President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who also attended the gathering.
At issue is his handling of an important form requiring a list of previous foreign contacts; according to CBS News, “Kushner updated a federal disclosure form needed to obtain a security clearance three times and added more than 100 names of foreign contacts through the updates after initially providing none at all...”
The report says that the second version listed all names except the Russian lawyer whom Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort met last year to possibly gain intel on Hillary Clinton; the amended third version included it.
Kushner’s multiple disclosures are being credited with helping to break the New York Times story about the meeting.
The media outlet's initial report from Saturday states, “The Trump Tower meeting was not disclosed to government officials until recently, when Mr. Kushner...filed a revised version of a form required to obtain a security clearance.”
It goes on to explain that “failure to report such contacts can result in a loss of access to classified information and even, if information is knowingly falsified or concealed, in imprisonment.”
Kushner's team has called the oversights an error; they have also blamed his initial filing with no foreign contacts on a staff member who accidentally hit the “send” button early.
However, people claiming to be knowledgeable about the process have cast doubt on this explanation, with one person tweeting that the form “can be signed electronically but it goes through several screens to make sure you want to submit. This is highly implausible.”
As a result of these suspicions, Newsweek is reporting that “Democrats and security experts are calling for...Kushner’s security clearance to be revoked.”
The recent bombshell report about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer, is leading to increased scrutiny on President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, who also attended the gathering.
At issue is his handling of an important form requiring a list of previous foreign contacts; according to CBS News, “Kushner updated a federal disclosure form needed to obtain a security clearance three times and added more than 100 names of foreign contacts through the updates after initially providing none at all...”
The report says that the second version listed all names except the Russian lawyer whom Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort met last year to possibly gain intel on Hillary Clinton; the amended third version included it.
Kushner’s multiple disclosures are being credited with helping to break the New York Times story about the meeting.
The media outlet's initial report from Saturday states, “The Trump Tower meeting was not disclosed to government officials until recently, when Mr. Kushner...filed a revised version of a form required to obtain a security clearance.”
It goes on to explain that “failure to report such contacts can result in a loss of access to classified information and even, if information is knowingly falsified or concealed, in imprisonment.”
Kushner's team has called the oversights an error; they have also blamed his initial filing with no foreign contacts on a staff member who accidentally hit the “send” button early.
However, people claiming to be knowledgeable about the process have cast doubt on this explanation, with one person tweeting that the form “can be signed electronically but it goes through several screens to make sure you want to submit. This is highly implausible.”
As a result of these suspicions, Newsweek is reporting that “Democrats and security experts are calling for...Kushner’s security clearance to be revoked.”