Top News and Posts Review - 3:20 AM 3/11/2019
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Top News and Posts Review - 3:20 AM 3/11/2019
Politics: Sanders taking tough jabs at TrumpMarch 10, 2019
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- Democrats were trying to ‘protect’ Rep. Ilhan Omar with broad resolution denouncing hate, Rep. Liz Cheney says The Washington Post
- Have the Democrats finally gone too far? New York Post
- Rep. Liz Cheney blasts House Democrats for 'enabling' anti-Semitic comments NBC News
- Democrats hurting themselves with handling of Ilhan Omar controversy | TheHill The Hill
- Cheney says House anti-Semitism resolution was effort to protect Omar POLITICO
- View full coverage on Google News
Biden and Sanders Lead the 2020 Field in Iowa, Poll Finds The New York Times
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senator Bernie Sanders lead a new poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers released this weekend, underscoring how ...
View full coverage on Google News- GOP meddles in Democratic nomination with takedown of O'Rourke Politico
- The Memo: Team Trump insists Dem probes could 'boomerang' | TheHill The Hill
- How Not to Lose to Donald Trump The Atlantic
- Newt Gingrich: Young Democrats are Throwing a Party, and the Grandparents aren't Invited | Opinion Newsweek
- Judge Jeanine: The joke's on you, Speaker Pelosi Fox News
- View full coverage on Google News
- Facebook's Early Investor-Turned-Critic Wants Presidential Candidates to Regulate Tech Adweek
- This Big Facebook Critic Fears Tech’s Business Model WIRED
- Mark Zuckerberg's former mentor says privacy manifesto is a PR stunt Mashable
- The False Promise of Mark Zuckerberg’s Come-to-Jesus Manifesto Vanity Fair
- Nick Clegg claims EU's new privacy regulations will threaten Facebook's business model Daily Mail
- View full coverage on Google News
- Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is ‘not a state of all its citizens’ The Guardian
- Wonder Woman takes on Netanyahu with anti-racism post on Instagram The Washington Post
- Netanyahu: Israel is the state of 'Jewish people alone' ABC News
- Netanyahu says Israel ‘belongs to Jewish people alone’ in attack on nation’s Arab population The Independent
- Israeli former general Benny Gantz silently rising in the polls as Netanyahu destroys himself Telegraph.co.uk
- View full coverage on Google News
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- Schiff: 'Best way to get the truth would be to put the president under oath' POLITICO
- Adam Schiff: Mueller making a 'mistake' without Trump testimony under oath Washington Examiner
- Schiff: 'Mistake' if Trump doesn't testify under oath in Russia investigation | TheHill The Hill
- Andrew McCarthy: Paul Manafort was not a Russian agent Fox News
- Where the investigations related to President Trump stand ABC News
- View full coverage on Google News
- Trump Pushes Team to Stick Up for 'Brave' Paul Manafort The Daily Beast
- McCabe says he was 'shocked' by Manfort sentencing, but does not think Trump's comments had influence Fox News
- GOP senator says he was surprised at sentence for 'sleazoid' Manafort | TheHill The Hill
- I’m a public defender. My clients get none of the sympathy Manafort did. Washington Post
- How could anyone think Paul Manafort lived an ‘otherwise blameless’ life? Los Angeles Times
- View full coverage on Google News
Politics: Sanders taking tough jabs at TrumpMarch 10, 2019
TRUMPISTAN TODAY – RECENT POSTS - 7:27 PM 3/10/2019
- “Trump” – Google News: Miami Herald: Founder of spa linked to Kraft arrest brought Chinese businesspeople to Trump fundraiser – CNNMarch 10, 2019
- Politics: Sanders taking tough jabs at TrumpMarch 10, 2019
- Politics: Trump’s massive reelection campaign has 2016 themes — and a 2020 infrastructureMarch 10, 2019
- Donald Trump: Andrew McCabe: I Was ‘Shocked’ By Paul Manafort’s ‘Lenient’ SentenceMarch 10, 2019
- “Russia influence in Eastern Europe” – Google News: How a Russian Gas Pipeline Is Driving a Wedge Between the U.S. and Its Allies – Wall Street JournalMarch 10, 2019
- “trump as danger to National Security” – Google News: Republicans, residents vent frustration over border security at Deming event – Las Cruces Sun-NewsMarch 10, 2019
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By Chuck Rosenberg, former United States attorney and MSNBC legal analyst
Let’s assume the reporting is correct — that Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, applied for a top-secret security clearance and that his application was denied by career officials. Let’s also assume that Trump then, as reported by The New York Times, wanted Kushner to have this clearance because the president believed Kushner needed it to conduct his work. Therefore, Trump simply ordered former chief-of-staff John Kelly to grant Kushner’s top-secret clearance, despite the concerns of career officials and despite the fact that Kushner was not otherwise qualified to be cleared at that level. Is this OK?
Though deeply troubling, a president has the authority to grant security clearances as he prefers. So, the answer to my own question, to paraphrase a former president, depends on what the meaning of “OK” is.
Though deeply troubling, a president has the authority to grant security clearances as he prefers.
The national security apparatus of the United States, including the collection and analysis of intelligence, is established by and for the president. Indeed, the intelligence community (consisting of the CIA, NSA, FBI, and 14 other such agencies, large and small) resides within the executive branch. The president, of course, is the chief executive, of both that branch and the nation. These agencies — and their employees — work for him. That is our constitutional design and, as constructed, it makes good sense.
Virtually all of a president’s authority with respect to intelligence — to collect, to analyze, to classify, to declassify, and to grant or withhold clearances — is delegated to inferior officials within the executive branch, as it should be. But a president does not need the permission of an inferior executive branch official to act in this arena; ultimately, for instance, a president can classify or declassify intelligence as he sees fit. Broadly speaking, the information is for him to use, after all.
That may seem odd because we think of the work of our remarkably skilled and accomplished intelligence agencies as constituted, authorized and engaged not for a particular individual, but for the safety and security of the nation. True enough, but that protective function is entrusted, by Article II of the Constitution, to the president. A president is, after all, also the commander-in-chief and chief diplomat of the United States. Used properly, intelligence is a crucial tool.
Thus, when our current president shared classified information with Russian officials inside the Oval Office in May of 2017, that was permissible. At the same time, it was remarkably foolish and recklessfor many reasons, including the fact that it theoretically put at risk both the source of the information he passed and signaled to our closest allies around the world that we perhaps cannot be trusted with sensitive information they routinely share with us. I can only imagine the reaction among the senior officials in the intelligence services of those allies when our president spilled some number of beans to the Russians. I can assure you, from experience, that they were aghast. I am equally certain the Russians were delighted.
Interestingly, the rules that apply to the president here do not apply to those who work for him. If an inferior officer in a U.S. intelligence agency provided highly classified information to the Russians on his or her own accord (that is, without authorization), there would be serious consequences, ranging from losing a clearance, to losing a job, to going to prison. But, none of that is true for a president. Remember, the information is gathered and analyzed for him and he can essentially do what he wants with it. That includes, it seems, his ability to share it with Russian officials, which is precisely what he did.
Several million Americans hold security clearances. All of them go through a rigorous and laborious process to get one, including a thorough financial and personal vetting. All of them fill out numerous forms, wait many months for their applications to be adjudicated, and submit, in many cases, to polygraph examinations (which they must pass, by the way, to be cleared). I have been cleared through this demanding vetting process several times.
We do this for a reason: to ensure that the men and women who hold clearances and see our most important intelligence can be trusted with it. Overwhelmingly, these professionals maintain that trust. The few scoundrels who do not are typically prosecuted and imprisoned or, as in Edward Snowden’s case, flee to hostile foreign nations where they can live out their lives as cowards and traitors, beyond our reach. And, by the way, which country did Snowden choose? Russia, of course.
The president has the authority to bypass this carefully calibrated system. He may, if he so chooses, grant a clearance to anyone he wants, including his unqualified son-in-law. He may override the recommendation of career officials. He may be as foolish and as reckless as he wants with our nation’s secrets and with the secrets of our allies. That seems like a crazy sentence to write, but it is essentially true.
So, if Kushner is not qualified to hold a top-secret clearance, and the president granted one to him anyway, is that permissible? Yes. But is it OK? No, not even close.
Chuck Rosenberg
Chuck Rosenberg is a former United States attorney, senior FBI official and Drug Enforcement Administration chief. He is currently an MSNBC legal analyst.
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GOP senator: McCabe, others at FBI should 'hang their head in shame' | TheHill The Hill
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said Sunday that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and others at the bureau should "hang their head in shame" for ...
By Brett Samuels - 03/10/19 12:46 PM EDT
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Dems Have Some Questions About Qatar's Miraculous Bailout of ...
Vanity Fair-Mar 8, 2019
In 2007, on the eve of the global financial crisis, a 26-year-old Jared Kushner bought a Midtown tower with the inauspicious address of 666 ...
House Democrats are afraid to investigate Trump's family. They are ...
Opinion-Washington Post-Mar 7, 2019
Opinion-Washington Post-Mar 7, 2019
House Democrats torn over how aggressively to scrutinize Ivanka ...
In-Depth-Chicago Tribune-Mar 7, 2019
In-Depth-Chicago Tribune-Mar 7, 2019
Jared Kushner 'will eventually be exposed as an insatiably greedy ...
AlterNet-8 hours ago
Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner was slammed on Saturday for being “the greatest domestic danger to America.” It started with a ...
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