The White House is stepping up its attack on House Democrats and media outlets for their focus on Jared Kushner and its controversial security clearance process, calling it a scheme to keep the Russia collusion cloud aloft.
“It’s ‘Collusion 2.0,’” said an insider, dismissing the charges swirling around Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and top advisor, adding, “He was cleared of all collusion charges so now they’re switching to this.”
President Trump ripped the continued focus on the “collusion delusion” and the focus by critics on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and other issues, including security clearances.
[Opinion: Security clearances should not be a partisan issue]
According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive. They should focus on legislation or, even better, an investigation of how the ridiculous Collusion Delusion got started – so illegal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2019
“According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive. They should focus on legislation or, even better, an investigation of how the ridiculous Collusion Delusion got started – so illegal!” tweeted Trump after new report identified Kushner as the top aide who was granted a security clearance despite concerns that initially led officials to deny him one.
Officials are increasingly pushing back on what they view as smears against Kushner, who has been involved in most of the administration’s key victories and leads the administration’s soon-to-be announced Middle East peace proposal.
The officials said that it is standard operating procedure for a president to ask that a key aide be given clearance. “This is the president’s decision,” said one insider.
According to reports, Kushner’s business dealings with overseas interests led to an initial denial of his security clearance. However, Trump has made him his top advisor and wanted him cleared to handle key issues.
Kushner, who typically refuses to react publicly, has also gone attack and plans to step up the pushback.
There is nothing we can ever give to the Democrats that will make them happy. This is the highest level of Presidential Harassment in the history of our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2019
The husband of first daughter Ivanka Trump went on Fox this week to lead his own offensive against continued attacks.
“I think people sometimes let their hatred for Trump overtake their rationale ability to look at things objectively. And I think that when the dust settles and this whole administration is over, I think people will look back on all these historic gains that have been achieved,” he said.
He also hit the media playing up accusations against him, specifically CNN.
“The number of times that CNN wrote things about me that I would then call and say but that’s not true, they would say we have a source. It is what it is. And I just hope that going forward everyone will look at it and maybe have a little bit of cooler heads and focus that we’re all on the same team, we’re all here for America,” Kushner told Laura Ingraham.
Kushner also indicated that the Democratic attacks on him over his security clearance do not suggest that he has done anything wrong in the White House. Below is the key discussion on that issue with Ingraham earlier this week:
INGRAHAM: We have to get some of the news of the day first and the Left is going crazy about the security clearance issue and a whistleblower from the White House is now given a private interview on Capitol Hill Democrats. And she says that 25 individuals were able to leapfrog over the career people’s concerns about security clearances, and they received security clearances in her view improperly. What’s your reaction to that?
KUSHNER: I can’t comment for the White House’s process. But what I can say is that, over the last two years that I’ve been here, I’ve been accused of all different types of things, and all of those things that turned out to be false.
We’ve had a lot of crazy accusations like that we colluded with Russia. I complied with all the different investigations, whether it be the Senate, the House, the special counsel. I sat for nearly 20 hours of interviews with them.
When I came to Washington I had a very successful business career. I had extensive holdings. I disclosed all my holdings to the Office of Government Ethics. And what I did with that is they told me what to divest, what to keep, what rules to follow.
INGRAHAM: She says they were grave concern. She has grave concerns about potential national security implications. Do you pose a grave national security concern to the country, Jared Kushner?
KUSHNER: Look, I can say that in the White House I work with some phenomenal people and I think over the last two years the president’s done a phenomenal job of identifying what are our national security priorities.
He’s had a great team in place that are helping implement it, and I hope I’ve played a good part in pushing those objectives forward. And I think because of the president’s leadership, the world is safer today.
INGRAHAM: You get the sense that the Democrats keep moving the goalposts on this. I mean, it strikes me as interesting that this comes out today after Mueller fizzles.
KUSHNER: Yes, well, what I learned during the campaign is that there’s a big difference between what people in America care about and what people in Washington or in the media care about.
