Politics Kushner loses access to top-secret intelligence

[SlyPokerDog]

Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access.

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.


The SCI acronym stands for sensitive compartmented information, a category of information that comes from sensitive intelligence sources and must be walled off.

The memo was not signed by chief of staff John Kelly, but it comes as the retired Marine general and other top White House aides are grappling with the fallout of a scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, which revealed that dozens of White House aides had yet to receive permanent clearances but nonetheless had access to some of the country’s deepest secrets.

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

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Kuckner.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Trump's family is reportedly furious with John Kelly, and the sides may enter a 'death match'

• A White House source told the news website Axios that Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, were squaring up for a "death match" with the White House chief of staff, John Kelly.
• Kushner had a horrendous Tuesday, when he had his security clearance downgraded and also appeared to break the law.
• An article in The Washington Post also said foreign officials had used his inexperience to try to manipulate him.
• But Kelly too is on shaky ground over his handling of Rob Porter, who resigned as White House staff secretary amid domestic-abuse allegations.

A White House source has told the news website Axios that Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are squaring up for a "death match" with the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, who they may feel betrayed them.

The news follows a horrendous Tuesday for Kushner, the senior adviser to and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, and would be the latest example of internal strife at the Trump White House.

"Javanka and Kelly are locked in a death match," the source told Axios' Mike Allen. "Two enter. Only one survives."

http://www.businessinsider.com/trum...ry-with-john-kelly-looming-death-match-2018-2

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Trump's family is reportedly furious with John Kelly, and the sides may enter a 'death match'

• A White House source told the news website Axios that Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, were squaring up for a "death match" with the White House chief of staff, John Kelly.
• Kushner had a horrendous Tuesday, when he had his security clearance downgraded and also appeared to break the law.
• An article in The Washington Post also said foreign officials had used his inexperience to try to manipulate him.
• But Kelly too is on shaky ground over his handling of Rob Porter, who resigned as White House staff secretary amid domestic-abuse allegations.

A White House source has told the news website Axios that Jared Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are squaring up for a "death match" with the White House chief of staff, John Kelly, who they may feel betrayed them.

The news follows a horrendous Tuesday for Kushner, the senior adviser to and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, and would be the latest example of internal strife at the Trump White House.

"Javanka and Kelly are locked in a death match," the source told Axios' Mike Allen. "Two enter. Only one survives."

http://www.businessinsider.com/trum...ry-with-john-kelly-looming-death-match-2018-2

Kelly would kill Kuckner.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

 

[Lanny]

Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access.

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.


The SCI acronym stands for sensitive compartmented information, a category of information that comes from sensitive intelligence sources and must be walled off.

The memo was not signed by chief of staff John Kelly, but it comes as the retired Marine general and other top White House aides are grappling with the fallout of a scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, which revealed that dozens of White House aides had yet to receive permanent clearances but nonetheless had access to some of the country’s deepest secrets.

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

So, there is a God.

 

[crandc]

But since Trump never reads Presidential Daily Briefings or military reports and Kushner did, what is to stop Trump from simply handing them to Kushner? It's not like he respects law or rules or Constitution or anything.

This was the man who would bring about Middle East peace, improve relations with Mexico and Canada, develop trade policy, reform the Veterans Administration, solve the opiode epidemic and update the White House IT system. Any one a full time job for a person with experience and staff, neither of which he had.

So much winning! Hire best people!

 

[MARIS61]

This was the man who would bring about Middle East peace, improve relations with Mexico and Canada, develop trade policy, reform the Veterans Administration, solve the opiode epidemic and update the White House IT system. Any one a full time job for a person with experience and staff, neither of which he had.

So much winning! Hire best people!

Glad you're finally on the Trump Train!

He's well on the way to accomplishing all of that and more.

According to the Heritage Foundation, he has accomplished 64% of the agenda he campaigned on, in his first year. More than any other President.

MOST ACCOMPLISHED PRESIDENT!

 

[Lanny]

But since Trump never reads Presidential Daily Briefings or military reports and Kushner did, what is to stop Trump from simply handing them to Kushner? It's not like he respects law or rules or Constitution or anything.

This was the man who would bring about Middle East peace, improve relations with Mexico and Canada, develop trade policy, reform the Veterans Administration, solve the opiode epidemic and update the White House IT system. Any one a full time job for a person with experience and staff, neither of which he had.

So much winning! Hire best people!

Was that just a touch of sarcasm?

 

[riverman]

This was the man who would bring about Middle East peace

When he arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia he proclaimed he had just arrived from the Middle East....Israelis just shook their heads and said...next time send the kid or the daughter

 

[Lanny]

Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access.

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.


The SCI acronym stands for sensitive compartmented information, a category of information that comes from sensitive intelligence sources and must be walled off.

The memo was not signed by chief of staff John Kelly, but it comes as the retired Marine general and other top White House aides are grappling with the fallout of a scandal involving former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, which revealed that dozens of White House aides had yet to receive permanent clearances but nonetheless had access to some of the country’s deepest secrets.

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

Well now, this is just heart breaking.

 

[Denny Crane]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/4/trump-team-security-clearance-process-weaponized-b/

Anti-Trump bureaucrats accused of weaponizing security clearance process


The security clearance process has tied the Trump administration in knots — and that is exactly what the bureaucrats running theWhite Housepersonnel security office intended, said a lawyer who has been battling the office.

The problem is a small group of career bureaucrats holed up in the Old Executive Office Building who turned security reviews into quicksand to ensnare President Trump’s team, said Sean M. Bigley, a federal security clearance lawyer who represents several senior administration officials caught up in the process.

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.

His account of obstruction and stalling tactics bolstersWhite HouseChief of StaffJohn F. Kelly’s criticism of the security office and further illuminates recent incidents involving security clearances that have embarrassed Mr. Trump, including a downgrade of top-secret clearance for senior adviser and son-in-lawJared Kushner.

The foot-dragging in the security clearance process is prevalent throughout the administration, including at the Defense Department, but the problem is most visible and startling at theWhite House, said Mr. Bigley.

The completed FBI background checks routinely get snagged by the office, also known as EOP Security, that is manned by fewer than a dozen career officials. The office has a reputation for bureaucratic inefficiency stretching back several administrations, but it now has adopted an adversarial stance toward Mr. Trump.

“There really is a hostility and there seems to be almost an institutional arrogance in lack of willingness to engage,” said Mr. Bigley. “I literally cannot get a phone call returned, and I am representing senior people in the administration who are just asking for basic answers as to why EOP Security is still sitting on their background investigation a year after it has been completed.”

 

[riverman]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/mar/4/trump-team-security-clearance-process-weaponized-b/

Anti-Trump bureaucrats accused of weaponizing security clearance process


The security clearance process has tied the Trump administration in knots — and that is exactly what the bureaucrats running theWhite Housepersonnel security office intended, said a lawyer who has been battling the office.

The problem is a small group of career bureaucrats holed up in the Old Executive Office Building who turned security reviews into quicksand to ensnare President Trump’s team, said Sean M. Bigley, a federal security clearance lawyer who represents several senior administration officials caught up in the process.

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.

His account of obstruction and stalling tactics bolstersWhite HouseChief of StaffJohn F. Kelly’s criticism of the security office and further illuminates recent incidents involving security clearances that have embarrassed Mr. Trump, including a downgrade of top-secret clearance for senior adviser and son-in-lawJared Kushner.

The foot-dragging in the security clearance process is prevalent throughout the administration, including at the Defense Department, but the problem is most visible and startling at theWhite House, said Mr. Bigley.

The completed FBI background checks routinely get snagged by the office, also known as EOP Security, that is manned by fewer than a dozen career officials. The office has a reputation for bureaucratic inefficiency stretching back several administrations, but it now has adopted an adversarial stance toward Mr. Trump.

“There really is a hostility and there seems to be almost an institutional arrogance in lack of willingness to engage,” said Mr. Bigley. “I literally cannot get a phone call returned, and I am representing senior people in the administration who are just asking for basic answers as to why EOP Security is still sitting on their background investigation a year after it has been completed.”

Shocking! This statement from Trump's lawyer...using the term "weaponized" for a security clearance....when I received a top secret security clearance in the Navy. ...no weapons were involved. It was just a background check....apparently one Kushner couldn't pass.

 

[Denny Crane]

Not Trump's lawyer.

Clearly a swamp needing to be drained issue.

 

[riverman]

Not Trump's lawyer.

He's the federal lawyer for security clearances.....last time I checked...Trump was in the executive branch...last time I checked Kushner had conflicts of interest and massive debt...draining the swamp can actually be a good thing...over a dozen of Trump's team have already gone down the drain...Kelly and Bannon among others have wanted Kushner and Ivanka gone...since both worked for Trump....I'd say it's pretty telling there's a problem here.

 

[barfo]

“The security clearance process is being weaponized by anti-Trump bureaucrats who are using it as a tool to not only thwart the president’s agenda but to prevent him from installing appointees who will execute it,” Mr. Bigley told The Washington Times.

Mr. Bigley is a perfect name here. I suggest he be the next chief of staff.

barfo

 

[BrianFromWA]

Shocking! This statement from Trump's lawyer...using the term "weaponized" for a security clearance....when I received a top secret security clearance in the Navy. ...no weapons were involved. It was just a background check....apparently one Kushner couldn't pass.

No idea if Kushner could pass or not, but with "bureaucratic and administrative" holds tying up my current clearance resubmission, (and how I just spent a year trying to get my tax return given back after DoD/DFAS seized it erroneously) I can absolutely see how career bureaucrats can maintain a constant state of not getting things done (and then messing it up when they do), and they pointing to regulations.
Similarly, the state of MD issued a lien on me (passed by a judge and everything) for not paying my state taxes a few years back. I immediately sent in my copy of the tax return and W-2, and called them to let them know. I couldn't even get a person to pick up the phone. I finally dialed enough numbers around the number in the letter to get someone to take a message for me. After 4 months I got a notice saying "thank you for your payment" and said my lien was paid. I never paid a dime on the lien, just showed them it was an erroneous one. But it still shows as a judgement on my credit report. I can't get anyone (including the first number) to answer to take it off.

 

[barfo]

No idea if Kushner could pass or not, but with "bureaucratic and administrative" holds tying up my current clearance resubmission, (and how I just spent a year trying to get my tax return given back after DoD/DFAS seized it erroneously) I can absolutely see how career bureaucrats can maintain a constant state of not getting things done (and then messing it up when they do), and they pointing to regulations.
Similarly, the state of MD issued a lien on me (passed by a judge and everything) for not paying my state taxes a few years back. I immediately sent in my copy of the tax return and W-2, and called them to let them know. I couldn't even get a person to pick up the phone. I finally dialed enough numbers around the number in the letter to get someone to take a message for me. After 4 months I got a notice saying "thank you for your payment" and said my lien was paid. I never paid a dime on the lien, just showed them it was an erroneous one. But it still shows as a judgement on my credit report. I can't get anyone (including the first number) to answer to take it off.

You sure have a lot of troubles with the government. You'd think working for the government would make it easier rather than harder. Didn't they give you the secret deep-state password?

barfo

 

[BrianFromWA]

I actually was going to write more...

It seems as if those who deal more with the government have a much better idea of what it does, and severely wants to limit its power over our lives. Because it's, by and large, run by idiots and malicious incompetents, and the few good folks around are swamped in work and micromanaged into obscurity.

I think about these things every time someone wants a new tax, or new benefit, or new regulation, or...

 

[Denny Crane]

I actually was going to write more...

It seems as if those who deal more with the government have a much better idea of what it does, and severely wants to limit its power over our lives. Because it's, by and large, run by idiots and malicious incompetents, and the few good folks around are swamped in work and micromanaged into obscurity.

I think about these things every time someone wants a new tax, or new benefit, or new regulation, or...

Well said.

 

[MarAzul]

No idea if Kushner could pass or not, but with "bureaucratic and administrative" holds tying up my current clearance resubmission, (and how I just spent a year trying to get my tax return given back after DoD/DFAS seized it erroneously) I can absolutely see how career bureaucrats can maintain a constant state of not getting things done (and then messing it up when they do), and they pointing to regulations.
Similarly, the state of MD issued a lien on me (passed by a judge and everything) for not paying my state taxes a few years back. I immediately sent in my copy of the tax return and W-2, and called them to let them know. I couldn't even get a person to pick up the phone. I finally dialed enough numbers around the number in the letter to get someone to take a message for me. After 4 months I got a notice saying "thank you for your payment" and said my lien was paid. I never paid a dime on the lien, just showed them it was an erroneous one. But it still shows as a judgement on my credit report. I can't get anyone (including the first number) to answer to take it off.

I actually was going to write more...

It seems as if those who deal more with the government have a much better idea of what it does, and severely wants to limit its power over our lives. Because it's, by and large, run by idiots and malicious incompetents, and the few good folks around are swamped in work and micromanaged into obscurity.

I think about these things every time someone wants a new tax, or new benefit, or new regulation, or...

Man this sort of crap is way too common.

When I sold my house in Santa Clara county, to move back to Oregon, the county decided they had not charged me enough property tax over the prior 4 years.
So they just put a lien on my name for the $9000 they wanted, no judge no process and totally not as the law is written. Nothing I could do, nowhere to turn
just let it wear off the credit report which it did in about 8 years.

Then I had to IRS send me a Tax refund while I was living in Canada. What's this? A tax refund from 3 years back? Wrong! So I did not cash the check just put it aside until I returned to the States. One week went by and I got another letter stating I owed them that money back plus interest on the money for about 3.5 years.

You know, that is exactly the way the law is written too, you owe interest for the April 15 date of the year you owe the tax. It did not matter that I had not even cashed the damn check. Then the next tax filing they just kept my refund until this bogus shit was closed in there books

 

[barfo]

I actually was going to write more...

It seems as if those who deal more with the government have a much better idea of what it does, and severely wants to limit its power over our lives. Because it's, by and large, run by idiots and malicious incompetents, and the few good folks around are swamped in work and micromanaged into obscurity.

I think about these things every time someone wants a new tax, or new benefit, or new regulation, or...

Government employees know what idiots government employees are. OK, I can accept that.

barfo

 

[barfo]

I deal with the government in the same way the average citizen deals with the government - I pay taxes, I go to the DMV, etc.

My experience is that they are no less competent than any other large organization I deal with. I've certainly had more trouble with Comcast than with the IRS, for instance, despite the stakes being much much smaller.

I'm not claiming my experience is typical - just one data point.

barfo

 

[stampedehero]

Get out of the house Kushner.

 

[Lanny]

Shocking! This statement from Trump's lawyer...using the term "weaponized" for a security clearance....when I received a top secret security clearance in the Navy. ...no weapons were involved. It was just a background check....apparently one Kushner couldn't pass.

Mine involved a face to face interview. WTF, I passed and Kushner failed? I doubt if anyone involved as part of a Trump clan could pass. Clowns have taken over the White House.

 

[Lanny]

I deal with the government in the same way the average citizen deals with the government - I pay taxes, I go to the DMV, etc.

My experience is that they are no less competent than any other large organization I deal with. I've certainly had more trouble with Comcast than with the IRS, for instance, despite the stakes being much much smaller.

I'm not claiming my experience is typical - just one data point.

barfo

Have to agree with that. In fact, based on experience, both Comcast and Verizon have been difficult. And don't get me started on Aetna.

 

[Denny Crane]

Large organizations, like Comcast and Verizon, are prone to chaos and disarray. People interested in their fiefdoms instead of making the best business decisions.

Even larger organizations are even worse. The government dwarfs the top 25% of our companies. It spends in a year what it would cost to buy every share of Apple Computer stock 4+ times over.

Apple being the largest company of all.

 

[barfo]

Large organizations, like Comcast and Verizon, are prone to chaos and disarray. People interested in their fiefdoms instead of making the best business decisions.

Yes, exactly my point.

Yet large organizations exist. Why? Because there are tradeoffs. Large organizations are better at some things than small organizations, despite being worse at other things.

Even larger organizations are even worse. The government dwarfs the top 25% of our companies. It spends in a year what it would cost to buy every share of Apple Computer stock 4+ times over.

Apple being the largest company of all.

Not sure why you are comparing stock price to spending - it would make more sense to compare Apples spending to the US spending. Still, yes. The federal government is a very large organization by any standard.

barfo

 

[tlongII]

I deal with the government in the same way the average citizen deals with the government - I pay taxes, I go to the DMV, etc.

My experience is that they are no less competent than any other large organization I deal with. I've certainly had more trouble with Comcast than with the IRS, for instance, despite the stakes being much much smaller.

I'm not claiming my experience is typical - just one data point.

barfo

Are you sure you've been to the DMV lately?

 

[barfo]

Are you sure you've been to the DMV lately?

Actually I haven't. No reason to go. I have been to DEQ for the testing, but I do my DMV business remotely.

barfo