Senior officials were concerned about decision, prompting memos from John Kelly and White House counsel, New York Times says

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A top Democrat has threatened to subpoena the White House over the revelation that Donald Trump ordered top-level security clearance for his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, despite misgivings among senior administration officials.

Other congressional Democrats accused Trump of nepotism and called for security officials immediately to stop sharing information with Kushner, who is married to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House of Representatives oversight committee, fresh from grilling Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen in an explosive hearing on Wednesday, threatened late Thursday to subpoena White House records on the security clearance process.

Cummings began an investigation into the White House security process several weeks ago and said the Trump administration was yet to turn over documents requested as part of that investigation.

“The committee expects full compliance with its requests as soon as possible, or it may become necessary to consider alternative means to compel compliance,” Cummings said in a statement on Thursday night.

Senior administration officials were so troubled by the decision to grant Kushner the credentials last year on Trump’s say-so that the then White House chief of staff, John Kelly, wrote an internal memo about how he had been ordered to give Kushner the top-secret clearance. Doubts raised concerned Kushner’s international business dealings. The story on Thursday night was first reported by the New York Times.

Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of House intelligence committee, in a scathing critique, said: “There is no nepotism exception for background investigations.”

Schiff added the revelation “is the latest indicator of the president’s utter disregard for our national security and for the men and women who sacrifice so much every day to keep us safe”.

Meanwhile Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who serves on the House foreign affairs committee, said intelligence officials should stop sharing top-level information with Kushner.

“I have a message for our national security, defense and intelligence community: do not share top secret information with Jared Kushner. Trust the career professionals. Do the right thing. Your loyalty is to America, not to Kushner or Trump,” Lieu said.

As the pressure continued to mount on the White House on Friday, #FireKushner began trending on Twitter.

The White House counsel at the time of the development, Donald McGahn, also wrote an internal memo outlining concerns raised about Kushner and how McGahn had recommended against the decision.

The New York Times said the memos contradicted a statement made by Trump in an interview with the newspaper in January that he had no role in Kushner’s receiving his clearance. In an interview with ABC News last month, Ivanka Trump said: “The president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband’s clearance, zero.”

The subject of Kushner’s security clearance has long plagued the White House and been a source of scrutiny for members of Congress.

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While the exact obstacles Kushner encountered in his clearance process are not publicly known, officials privately raised concerns over ties between Kushner and his family’s real estate company and foreign investors and entities.

Democrats launch inquiry into White House's use of security clearances Read more

Kushner was forced to amend his federal disclosure forms on multiple occasions after he was found to have omitted more than 100 names on a list of foreign contacts.

Among them was a meeting with Sergey Kislyak, then the Russian ambassador to the US, during the 2016 campaign, and the infamous Trump Tower meeting that same year with a Russian lawyer. The latter was arranged by Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, after he was told of an effort by the Russian government to help elect Trump and offered incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

Kushner also met Sergey Gorkov, the head of a Russian state-owned bank that was subject to US sanctions, during the presidential transition at the end of 2016.

Intelligence officials had further warned the Kushner might be a target for manipulation by at least four foreign governments based on his business dealings, lack of foreign policy experience and financial debt.

Asked about the Times report on Thursday, the White House spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, said: “We don’t comment on security clearances.”

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Kushner’s attorney Abbe Lowell, said in an email that White House and security clearance officials last year asserted that Kushner’s clearance was “handled in the regular process with no pressure from anyone”.

“New stories, if accurate, do not change what was affirmed at the time,” Mirijanian said.

Reuters contributed to this report