Republicans, not just Democrats, have sent a letter to both the White House and the FBI demanding answers on Jared Kushner’s security clearance after he failed to disclose meetings he had with Russian officials during the transition period on security clearance forms.
Four top senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., signed on to the letter sent to Marcia Lee Kelly, who is the deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Management and Office of Administration, and acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.
“We are writing to request information related to Jared Kushner’s security clearance,” the senators wrote in a letter obtained by MSNBC and reported Friday by Rachel Maddow. Judiciary ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., also signed the letter.
Great @maddow scoop: Bipartisan Senate Judiciary Cmte letter wants answers on Jared Kushner’s security clearance. https://t.co/2ezDfzcv7M— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 24, 2017
Reporting has come out in the past few months that said Kushner, President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, omitted details of his meetings with Russian officials, including Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Sergey Gorkov, CEO of Russian state-owned bank Vnesheconombank, on an FBI questionnaire. Also sparking concerns was reporting that said Kushner spoke with Kislyak about creating a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and Moscow.
Though federal officials haven’t confirmed it publicly, Kushner is reportedly being looked at as part of the special counsel’s probe into Russian election interference.
While some Democrats have gone as far as to demand that Kushner’s security clearance be revoked, these four senators simply want answers, for now.
In their letter, the four Judiciary senators ask, “What is the status of Mr. Kusher’s security clearance?”
It also asks whether Trump or any other White House official intervened or overruled “any decision” concerning Kushner’s background investigation or any other part of the security clearance process. Though MSNBC didn’t immediately reveal all the questions in the letter, there were up to eight of them.
The letter asks for a reply by July 6, and a copy was sent to Kushner’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick of WilmerHale.
