Trump’s Son-In-Law Kushner Has Security Clearance Downgraded

It is unclear as to if and when Kushner’s access to the briefing, known as the PDB, would be reinstated.

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. 

(Photo: AP)

US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, has lost access to the most valued US intelligence report, the President’s Daily Brief, as the White House imposes greater discipline on access to secrets, two US officials familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, 27 February.

Kushner, who has been operating under an interim security clearance for about a year, had his access to the highly-classified briefing cut off in the past few weeks, said sources.

A third official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recently passed new information to White House Counsel Don McGahn that led to the slowing or stopping of Kushner’s pending clearance application. The nature of that information was not clear.

It also is unclear if and when Kushner’s access to the briefing, known as the PDB, which requires clearance higher than the Top Secret level, would be reinstated.

Kushner, a wealthy New York businessman married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, has not received his full security clearance because of his extensive financial links, which have taken a long time to examine. He has revised his security clearance form, called an SF-86, several times.

A White House spokesman for Kushner did not immediately return a phone call and email seeking comment. Trump ignored reporters’ shouted questions about Kushner and his clearance at an event on Tuesday afternoon.

Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement: “Mr Kushner has done more than what is expected of him in this process.”

My inquiries... have confirmed that there are a dozen or more people at Mr Kushner’s level whose process is delayed, that it is not uncommon for this process to take this long in a new administration, that the current backlogs are being addressed, and no concerns were raised about Mr Kushner’s application.

Abbe Lowell, Kushner’s attorney

Trump’s White House has been grappling with the security clearance issue since it emerged this month that staff secretary Rob Porter worked for Trump for a year with a temporary clearance despite accusations by his two former wives of domestic abuse. Porter has maintained his innocence.

The President’s Daily Brief is distributed to a small number of top-level US officials.

It includes highly-classified intelligence analysis, information about CIA covert operations, and reports from the most sensitive US sources or those shared by allied intelligence agencies.

New security clearance policies announced by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly “will not affect Mr Kushner’s ability to continue to do the very important work he has been assigned by the President,” Lowell said.

But one of the US officials who said Kushner had lost access to the daily brief said that without it, his role in some major policy deliberations, including on China and Russia, could be limited.