Kushner's security clearance and access ‘up to Gen. Kelly,’ Trump says

President Donald Trump said Friday the decision over whether to give Jared Kushner a waiver on his security clearance will be “up to” chief of staff John Kelly.

“That’ll be up to Gen. Kelly,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “Gen. Kelly respects Jared a lot and Gen. Kelly will make that call. I won’t make that call.”


The president’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser has been working on an interim security clearance since joining the White House in January 2017, accessing sensitive information including the president’s daily intelligence briefing.

He is one of dozens of staffers, including his wife Ivanka, working without permanent clearance.

The White House’s handling of clearances came under scrutiny after reports that Kelly had been aware that former staff secretary Rob Porter, who was accused by his two ex-wives of verbal and physical abuse, did not have a full security clearance in part because of a previous protective order granted during one of his divorces.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The scandal prompted Kelly to crack down on staffers working without full clearance, more than a year into the Trump administration.

In a five-page document released last week, Kelly ordered a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering protocols.

The proposed remedies included a formalized notification-regarding-clearances process between the White House counsel’s office, the personnel security office and the FBI; and new restrictions on what classified information those with interim security clearances can obtain, among other measures.

“The American people deserve a White House staff that meets the highest standards and that has been carefully vetted — especially those who work closely with the president or handle sensitive national security information,” Kelly said in the memo. “We should — and in the future, must — do better.”

The White House had last fall quietly imposed a ban on allowing any new staff to access sensitive information without permanent clearance. Staffers who were already working on interim clearances were allowed to continue in their roles.

Trump on Friday railed against what he described as pre-existing issues with the security clearance process.

“We inherited a system that’s broken. It’s a system where many people have — just it’s taken months and months and months” to be processed, Trump said.

Trump added that Kushner, who has been working on Middle East peace issues, has “done an outstanding job” despite having “been treated very unfairly” by outside groups.

The president was pressed on the topic during a bilateral meeting at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday that regardless of changes to the clearance process, Kushner’s duties would not change.

“Mr. Kushner’s work that he has done will not be impacted and he’s going to continue to do the work that he’s done over the last year,” Sanders said.

