Dem Reps: Suspend Kushner Security Clearance For Undisclosed Meetings

A group of Democratic members of Congress has requested that President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have his interim top secret security clearance revoked following revelations that he omitted meetings with foreign officials on his application for the clearance.

The New York Times reported on April 6, citing unnamed people with direct knowledge of the omissions, that Kushner had not included a December meeting with the Russian ambassador in Trump Tower on his application, and a meeting with the head of a Russian state-owned bank, Vnesheconombank, the same month.

“Given the severity of the allegations and still unanswered questions about this administration’s recently uncovered covert dealings with Russian government and intelligence officials, we are requesting that Mr. Kushner’s interim top-secret security clearance be suspended pending a review of Mr. Kushner’s compliance with the laws and regulation governing security clearances,” a letter from five Democratic congressmen to the FBI and the National Background Investigations Bureau read.

Its signatories are Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Peter Welch (D-VT).

The congressmen also asked Kushner himself to make public all meetings he had with foreign officials during his father-in-law’s presidential campaign and transition period.

Kushner’s lawyer responded to the April 6 Times report by saying that the initial security clearance application had been made in error, and that Kushner would provide supplementary information to account for them.

In late March, the Times reported, citing unnamed administration and congressional officials, that the Senate Intelligence Committee had told the White House it wanted to interview Kushner about his meetings with Russian officials, as part of its investigation between possible ties between members of the Trump campaign and Russia.

“The fact that Kushner is President Trump’s son-in-law does not place him above the law,” the congressmen wrote in a statement accompanying the letter. “Anyone else would face severe discipline for failing to disclose meetings with foreign officials, a material omission which potentially amounts to a criminal offense.”

“We are gravely concerned about the larger context within which this omission occurred,” they added later. “Mr. Kushner’s lack of candor about meetings with Russian officials appears to be part of a larger pattern of dissembling and deception on Russian contacts from the Trump team, and we believe the public deserves the truth about why these meetings took place and what they mean for U.S. foreign policy.”

Read the letter below: