Circa News is reporting that H.R. McMaster allowed Susan Rice to keep her security clearance. Bloomberg reported that McMaster said last month. there is no such thing as an Obama holdover.

About a month after we were told Susan Rice and other Obama officials were unmasking Americans, we discover that H.R. McMaster gave her unfettered access to Top Secret intel she was tied to while serving as National Security Advisor.

Why? Is Rice going to serve as liaison to the Washington Post and the NY Times?

An undated, non-classified letter advising her of her clearance was sent to her home. It was signed the last week of April. Trump knew nothing about it according to Circa News:

The undated and unclassified letter from McMaster was sent in the mail to Rice’s home during the last week of April. Trump was not aware of the letter or McMaster’s decision, according to two Senior West Wing officials and an intelligence official, who spoke to Circa on condition that they not be named.

The letter reads:

“I hereby waive the requirement that you must have a ‘need-to-know’ to access any classified information contained in items you ‘originated, reviewed, signed or received while serving,’ as National Security Adviser,” the letter said. The letter also states that the “NSC will continue to work with you to ensure the appropriate security clearance documentation remains on file to allow you access to classified information.”

While it is common for some former government officials to be granted access, White House officials told Carter, “given President Trump’s ongoing concern that members of his team were unmasked, Rice’s clearance should have been limited to congressional testimony only or revoked until the end of the investigation.”

“This memo McMaster sent to Rice makes it so that she doesn’t have to prove a continuing ‘need-to-know’ to have access to classified information and in effect is a White House pardon of Susan Rice and could be used by other Obama officials who conducted targeted unmasking of the campaign as a defense,” the official added.

When McMaster was appointed, the Sentinel was very concerned. The DC establishment, Democrats, some Republicans, and the media were thrilled when he was given the position. The alarm bells went off.

McMaster just fired three Trumpists from the NSC – Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Rich Higgins and Col. Harvey. Ezra Watnick is the man accused of leaking information to Devin Nunes. A former Breitbart writer was let go as well. Is this a cabal, is McMaster naive? This is not what the President wants. The Washington Times has more information on this link.

This is from Eli Lake: “Two United States intelligence officials told Bloomberg’s Eli Lake that McMaster has concluded that Rice did nothing wrong.”

The letter, however, indicates that it only concerns information that “originated, reviewed, signed, or received while serving” as National Security Advisor. It’s hard to know if that minimizes her clearance to the degree that it is not a problem. The sources talking to Carter seem to think it’s a serious issue.

We wrote an article months back that all of the Democratic team, Hillary, and her team will be allowed to keep their clearances for at least a year.

The letter:

Senior West Wing official tells me POTUS wasn’t aware of McMaster’s decision to axe Ezra Cohen-Watnick from NSC. “The President is furious.” — Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) August 3, 2017