Democratic Party goes after Jared Kushner’s security clearance – and it just might take down Donald Trump
In the wake of the revelation that the FBI is investigating Jared Kushner for his role in Donald Trump’s Russia scandal, the Democratic Party is trying a novel approach. The Democrats are seeking the revocation of Kushner’s White House security clearance – as announced on air by CNN today – and they may get it. Moreover, this is a strategy that just might end up baiting Trump into taking himself down.
Although the Democratic Party lacks a majority in the House and Senate, that doesn’t matter when it comes to something like a security clearance. That kind of thing is determined by the U.S. intelligence community on a nonpartisan basis. We’ve seen the intel agencies stand in the way of the security clearances of some of Trump’s favorite pets before, such as Sebastian Gorka, who ultimately had to take a lesser job outside of the White House because of it.
So even as the Democrats are calling for Kushner’s clearance to be yanked, there’s a very real chance the intel agencies will do it. And if it were anyone other than Kushner, Trump might just let it slide, as he did with Gorka and others. But because Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law, Trump will likely go to war with the intel community in an attempt at getting Kushner’s clearance reinstated.
Each time Trump has taken on the intel community, such as when he insulted the CIA or when he fired FBI Director James Comey, he’s lost badly in terms of damaging retaliatory leaks and which have further carved into his already historically weak approval rating. So if he’s willing to take on these agencies over something as suspect-sounding as trying to get security clearance reinstated for his own son-in-law who’s under FBI investigation for his secret meetings with a hostile foreign power, Trump will lose that war.
But more importantly, Donald Trump would keep waging that war against the intel community on Jared Kushner’s behalf, to the point that the fallout could end up completely unraveling his presidency. So if the Democrats can nudge the intel community into revoking Kushner’s security clearance, it could set off a chain reaction that sees Trump finish himself off before his existing scandals can. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
