The security clearance ought to be reviewed? The security clearance must be suspended until all clearance documentation is verified. But at least Schiff is bringing up the matter for us.
When I was in service in the 70s, had it become common knowledge that I had withheld (with intent OR NOT) information like ‘promoting backchannel meetings with the Russians’, and ‘having meetings with a sanctioned Russian bank’ and ‘meetings with various Russian government players’, on my Security Clearance documents, not only would that clearance be immediately revoked, but so would the review. That alone would have been grounds to simply deny any possibility of a clearance. I would have to jump through incredible hoops to have any chance of a new review even happening.
There would also have been the possibility of charges brought. Yes, even if I had “corrected the oversight” through my lawyers the following day. There was NO wriggle room for that kind of duplicity. It doesn’t matter that it was still a Cold War or not. The rules aren’t any different now. Dishonesty, failure to declare, or even an oversight, are still grounds for immediate revocation and denial of clearance.
Why this man still has access, AND is still being reviewed for a full clearance is utterly beyond anything i can imagine. Same with Flynn. The moment the head of the DoJ came to the White House with concerns and evidence that Flynn had lied, withheld info and was compromised, his clearance should have been yanked that very day. It wasn’t.
This administration is fast becoming an “Enemy of the State”. No joke… the buffoon and his gang of cronies, also buffoons, don’t even seem to know when they’re blowing things apart “unwittingly”, and if it’s with intent? Wow… treason? Yep.
Spread that article as widely as you can. I’m dismayed by hearing otherwise sensible people chirping “But Pence is worse!” without having thought it through.
Potentially worse in fact. There are lots of factors now and that would come to be that could affect his abilities one way or the other.
Trounce is near impossible to predict and the Repubs defy common sense and wisdom constantly.
Pence should be hamstrung by all of this but I wouldn’t bet on it straight up.
If there isn’t a review of Kushner’s clearance, then there needs to be a review of the review process.
Taken on it’s own, this should be grounds for his removal if not jail time.
Combined within the whole Russian ordeal, its just too risky and unnecessary risk is not a part of security protocols and he should be removed and investigated.
A good argument, and one with which I pretty much agree. Thanks for sharing it.
Funny…I hadn’t thought that the Repubs would see it that way as well. I thought they would tire of dealing with donnie’s insanity and ignorance. But I guess that would be assuming their concerns for our country would outweigh their greed. No such luck, I guess.
OK, once again we’ll take this from the top: Trump is severely mentally ill in a way that makes accidental nuclear war much, much more likely that it has been at any time since 1945. Pence isn’t. Nothing else signifies. End of discussion.
I’ve been mulling that around in my head. Would Trumpp ever actually go nuclear and would he not be stopped?
You argue that that is what the generals are sticking around to do don’t you?
His mental state and capacities are all bad but he puts on a lot. He plays tough at home but knows to tone it down when out of country. This proves to me that he knows exactly what he’s doing.
Of course he’s impetuous and impulsive.
I know its better to be safe then sorry but I doubt he’ll go there, at least in this term.
But really my ‘potentially worse’ comment only meant that Pence could be worse legislatively or he could be completely stymied by the whole impeachment thing and embattled GOP. I didn’t mean in a comparison to Trumpp.
He’s *president. Eventually someone in the chain of command would give the order, and the farther down the chain you go, the less likely it will be stopped. A military coup or mini-coup/25th amendment is the only “stopping” available.
That’s what I thought you meant but I wasn’t sure and I tend to be a bit emotional about this. I mean, I can agree with people who say Pence is worse in the sense that he actually has views that are pretty out there, and he’s not the incompetent dingbat Trump is, and he might try to do a Handmaiden thing if he had the power. But the scenario that puts him in power in the first place very much militates against that. The GOP was pretty discombobulated after Watergate, so just imagine this time around.
The generals could try to talk him out of it but they can’t keep Trump from firing off nukes if he wants to. SecDef has to validate the authenticity of the order, but that’s purely procedural. Nobody can stop it. Nobody. It’s set up for a rapid decision by one person. Maybe the family and people around Trump could intervene as people, but as far as the U.S. government goes there’s no mechanism to stop the order, no matter how nuts.
One of the fundamental rules of security clearances is that the killers are the things that render you vulnerable to blackmail. Sure, breaking the law matters, but if you break the law and your bosses know about it and are willing to hire you anyway, then no one can corrupt you by threatening to expose you. In Kushner’s case, maybe you could make an argument that he’s not subject to blackmail because his boss already knows all the dishonest, unlawful things he did and doesn’t care. But I’m not really sure you can take that argument quite so far.
Then the reasoning that McMaster or any generals are hanging around in order to hold back Trumpp just doesn’t work. They can’t and they’re just sell outs who also likely never would.
I’m still not seeing Trounce get to that point in this term. And who knows, Pence just might lob a nuke at NK for any number of reasons.
I’m not positive that Pence is 100% all there. His religiosity is so ingrained that he might do it cuz the lord told him to.
Like Tinpot General MickeyM, Tinpot General Kelly is compromised. They are not safeguarding our national security. I am wondering how much classified information is being to the Russian intelligence via clandestine channels of communication by operatives in the Trump-Penice administration.
Yep yep - and pence at the top of the ticket is national Dems’ dream scenario. Hell, he was a problem at the top
Of the ticket - with reverse coat tails looming like a scythe - in dead-red Indiana! We should welcome Mike pence.
And as you point out, he seems less likely to set the world on fire.
It used to be it took a full week from inception to banning, with great hijinks and hilarity in between. Now he’s come and gone before I’m even aware of his existence. If I brood on this, I’ll just throw myself overthefalls.
Are we certain McMaster isn’t one of the leakers? Everything I’ve read about the guy says he’s a patriot, who’s always put the country first -
Maybe at the cost of even his own reputation? I don’t know.
I still don’t understand the basis on which Jared has a Security Clearance in the first place. It’s beyond irregular but so everything about Trump’s Great American Hustle. I’m dead weary of it and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I’m not the only American who is dead weary of it.
