Tag: Jared Kushner

CNN’s Chris Cuomo spoke to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie about Jared Kushner’s security clearance, Michael Cohen’s testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, and more. #CNN #News

The New York Times released a bombshell report about senior adviser to President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, saying the President personally ordered the top secret security clearance of his son-in-law, overruling recommendations from the CIA and others. #CNN #News

CNN analyst and former CIA official Phil Mudd says he has one question for President Trump over The New York Times report about Jared Kushner's security clearance. #CNN #News

Former Director of National Security James Clapper told CNN's Wolf Blitzer he "hadn't heard of that happening before," when asked about the New York Times report that President Donald Trump personally ordered top security clearance for his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.…

Washington is one of the only places in America where an election transforms the city’s social life. Take Juleanna Glover, one of the city’s most well-known hostesses. And I haven’t been to an actual dinner party in two years where any of the Trump officials are. “We’re not trained to deal with this,” Maria Trabocchi, a co-owner of Fiola and several sister restaurants, told The Washington Post. Jared and Ivanka are particularly well-known for using their home to entertain strategically. There are a few public bars and restaurants that Trump swampists can call their own. Someone said to me, ‘It’s our place, it’s not their place!’ ” The Mnuchins and Jared and Ivanka are regularly spotted there. Nuschese told me that Trump himself, unlike Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, hasn’t yet dined there. Rima hosts an annual gala on behalf of the Kuwait-America Foundation, which promotes ties between the two countries, and in the Obama years it attracted members of the administration. “Now she hangs with Ivanka and Kellyanne and Jared,” said the prominent D.C. hostess.

In an interview with CNN's Erica Hill, author Matt Katz talks about the troubled relationship Chris Christie has with Jared Kushner's father, after PBS aired an interview where Christi said Kushner's father was behind one of the most "loathsome" crimes…

And one close Clinton friend told Zeleny "it would surprise me greatly if she actually did it." "Most losing presidential candidates never totally close the doors to running for president" again, Zeleny said. She wants to take on Trump. Sen. Warren is way more comfortable in talking about issues like that." Now that the government is open, House Democrats are moving forward with plans to investigate the Trump campaign, the Trump administration, and the Trump Organization. Meanwhile, close Mueller-watchers are asking what the Roger Stone indictment signals about the special counsel's next moves. "I think people are looking at this indictment, especially if they're members of the resistance, and saying, this is the beginning of indictments that are just going to be raining down, that next up is Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner," Murray said. This is actually the first time we've seen the special counsel's office bring a case jointly with another U.S. Attorney's office, and I think that could be another indication among the many other signs we've seen from Mueller's office that they may actually be winding things down," Murray said. Take a peek on social media and you will see what Democrats think of Schultz running as an independent, lamenting that a progressive third-party candidacy could siphon votes from Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents -- and help Trump win re-election. Some Democrats hope Schultz is stirring talk of a presidential run to generate book sales.

WASHINGTON — Jared Kushner's application for a top-secret clearance was rejected by two career White House security specialists after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential foreign influence on him — but their supervisor overruled the recommendation and approved the clearance, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. Kushner's was one of at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top-secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources said. After Kline overruled the White House security specialists and recommended Kushner for a top-secret clearance, Kushner's file then went to the CIA for a ruling on SCI. The sources say the CIA has not granted Kushner clearance to review SCI material. "What you are reporting is what all of us feared," said Brad Moss, a lawyer who represents persons seeking security clearances. They say he overruled career bureaucrats at least 30 times, granting top-secret clearances to officials in the Executive Office of the President or the White House after adjudicators working for him recommended against doing so. Following the FBI investigation, the case went back to the White House office of personnel security, where a career adjudicator reviewed the FBI information, including questions about foreign influence and foreign business entanglements, the sources said. The Washington Post, citing current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter, reported last February that officials in at least four countries had privately discussed ways they could manipulate Kushner by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience. Sources also told NBC News career employees of the White House office disagreed with other steps Kline took, including ceasing credit checks on security clearance applicants. Newbold raised concerns about Kline's behavior with her second level supervisor regarding his "hostility and integrity," according to the EEOC complaint.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the White House security clearance process, an inquiry that promises to put a spotlight on how President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, overcame concerns to gain access to highly classified information. "The Committee on Oversight and Reform is launching an in-depth investigation of the security clearance process at the White House and Transition Team in response to grave breaches of national security at the highest levels of the Trump administration," Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a letter to the White House obtained by NBC News. Kushner has since obtained a clearance, according to his lawyer, despite reports that he has been targeted for manipulation by foreign governments. Cummings said he is seeking documents relevant to the NBC news report. In the letter, Cummings said the investigation will seek to determine "why the White House and Transition Team appear to have disregarded established procedures for safeguarding classified information" and "the extent to which the nation's most highly guarded secrets were provided to officials who should not have had access to them." Last year, Cummings pointed out, John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, acknowledged "shortcomings" with the White House's security clearance process. But the White House has said nothing about any changes made to the process, and has rebuffed congressional requests for information, Cummings said. McFarland • Former White House staff secretary Robert Porter • Former National Security Council senior director Robin Townley • Trump's former personal assistant, John McEntee • Former deputy assistant to the president Sebastian Gorka Cummings said he also sent a letter to the National Rifle Association about Bolton, seeking information about his contacts with Maria Butina, an NRA member who has been charged as an unregistered agent of Russia. Cummings also asked for documents pertaining to what he said is the White violation of the SECRET Act — a law requiring the White House to submit a report to Congress by August 2018 on its procedures for adjudicating security clearances. But the White House defied the GOP-controlled committee's requests for information and no action was taken.

Mr. Trump acknowledged discussing the Moscow project with Mr. Cohen in written responses that the president gave Mr. Mueller’s investigators days before they revealed that Mr. Cohen had pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. “There was no question that he was asked by the special counsel a question that said, ‘Did you talk to him before he testified?’” Mr. Giuliani said. “There were questions like, ‘Did you talk about the Moscow project with Michael Cohen?’ to which we answered yes.” Later in the day, Mr. Giuliani said he was merely allowing for the possibility that the president and Mr. Cohen could have discussed the Moscow project through the election but that no notes or call logs indicated specific conversations about Russia. He does remember, after that, fleeting conversations.” He added that he was trying to keep Mr. Trump from legal exposure if prosecutors uncover evidence of a conversation that the president has said he does not recall. Then, when Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress about the Tower negotiations, the special counsel’s office revealed they extended at least until the middle of 2016. Michael T. Flynn, who would become President Trump’s first national security adviser, discussed sanctions with Mr. Kislyak numerous times in December 2016 as President Obama punished Russia for its campaign of election interference. For the Moscow project, Mr. Trump appears to have relied on Mr. Cohen to be the lead negotiator, and interviews, emails and court documents show that Mr. Cohen made a vigorous effort to try to get the blessing of the Kremlin for the project and even tried to arrange a trip to Moscow for Mr. Trump. Mr. Sater appears to have seen Mr. Shmykov as a conduit to get Russian government approval for the Trump project. Instead, he said, a Russian bank could provide the documents as part of “a business meeting not political.” The Moscow trip for Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen never materialized, but court documents released in November as part of Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea showed that Mr. Cohen pursued the Moscow project well into 2016. Mr. Cohen told prosecutors for the special counsel that, during a January 2016 conversation, the Kremlin official “asked detailed questions and took notes, stating that she would follow up with others in Russia.” Mr. Cohen told prosecutors that the discussions lasted at least until June 14, 2016, when he met with Mr. Sater in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York and told him he would not be traveling to Russia “at that time,” according to court documents.