Trump's command to Kelly came last May, the day after the White House Counsel's Office urged him not to grant Kushner the clearance, the Times reported.
The directive prompted two internal memos -- one from Kelly on being "ordered" to grant Kushner the clearance, and another from then-White House counsel Don McGahn listing the issues raised against Kushner, including from the CIA, and advising that he not receive the clearance, according to the paper. Kelly did not respond to the Times' request for comment.
A spokesperson for Kushner's attorney Abbe Lowell disputed the Times' characterization of Kushner's security clearance process.
"In 2018, White House and security clearance officials affirmed that Mr. Kushner's security clearance was handled in the regular process with no pressure from anyone," spokesperson Peter Mirijanian told CNN in a statement. "That was conveyed to the media at the time, and new stories, if accurate, do not change what was affirmed at the time."
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement to CNN on Thursday, "We don't comment on security clearances."
The report contradicts previous assertions by Trump and his daughter Ivanka that the President did not direct White House officials to coordinate for Kushner to acquire a clearance. NBC reported last month that Kushner's application had been rejected by two White House security specialists before they were overruled by their supervisor Carl Kline, prompting House Democrats to call for acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to revoke Kushner's access.
Kline, according to veteran White House security official Tricia Newbold, repeatedly overruled her team's determinations that a person should not receive a security clearance.
Newbold confirmed that there had been around 30 cases deemed "unfavorable" by the adjudicators in the Office of Administration, where she has worked since 2000, that were overruled and approved by Kline.
House Democrats have already called for current White House counsel Pat Cipollone to provide documents related to the security clearances of several top current and former administration officials, including Kushner and Michael Flynn. In a Jan. 23 letter, House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings stated the panel's intention to launch an in-depth investigation into the White House's security clearance process.
It remains unclear whether Cipollone missed the Feb. 6 deadline to respond to the letter. The White House and Cummings' office have failed to respond to repeated requests for comment on whether Cipollone had provided the documents from Nov. 8, 2018, to the present.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/politics/nyt-trump-kelly-kushner-clearance/index.html
2019-03-01 00:45:00Z
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