Kushner loses top security clearance
Casts doubt on his White House power broker status
Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide Jared Kushner has lost his top-level security clearance, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday, a decision with potentially profound implications for the US administration.
Two sources confirmed US media reports that the 37-year-old White House aide will no longer be able to access America’s most closely guarded secrets.
The White House – up to and including the president himself – refused to comment on the record, but officials insisted that the decision would not impact Kushner’s role.
Still, Kushner’s loss of access to “Top Secret/SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information)” data casts serious doubt on his status as a power broker inside the White House and his ability to negotiate the Middle East peace.
Kushner had been an integral part of Trump’s election campaign and, among White House advisors, is seen as something like a first among equals.
The soft-spoken aide is married to the president’s daughter Ivanka and has been a leading figure in efforts to reach a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.
He has also been a strong proponent of Washington’s intensified support for the government of embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Politico and CNN first reported that his clearance may have been rescinded late last week.
The decision comes just days before Netanyahu visits the White House.
Former US negotiator Aaron David Miller said Kushner now risks losing “credibility” with interlocutors in the Middle East.
“They know you can’t be reading about them,” he said, and “you can’t possibly know what you don’t know.”
Kushner’s lawyer had earlier admitted that he has not yet completed the formal clearance procedure, despite reportedly getting access to the most secret material contained in the president’s daily briefing – the crown jewels of US intelligence.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly ordered changes to the clearance system after a top aide – Rob Porter – worked for months without full clearance because of allegations he abused both his former wives.
“I will not comment on anybody’s specific security clearance,” Kelly said in a statement.